0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing
0:00:05 > 0:00:08On our streets today, a new breed of sexual predators
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and British Pakistani men are being blamed.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Young Muslim men have been grooming young girls.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16We've got a problem. We can't bury our head in the sand.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18I just cannot understand why.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21It's been called on-street grooming,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24networks of men who target young teenage girls.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27The guys always tend to be 30, 40s. It makes me feel sick.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32They were relentless in trying to get more girls into that vehicle.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Befriended using drink, drugs and rides in flash cars,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40then raped and forced to have sex with the men's friends and relatives.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44I'd be in bedroom, locked in bedroom, and they'd send man after man in.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49We cannot treat human beings like this. We are not cheap meat.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52The view from inside the British Pakistani community
0:00:52 > 0:00:56reveals neighbourhoods shocked by the accusations laid at their doors.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59What has happened to this nation of Muslims?
0:00:59 > 0:01:02What has happened to us as a community?
0:01:02 > 0:01:05'I'm setting off on a deeply personal journey...'
0:01:05 > 0:01:07- Hey, how you doing, boys? - Here we are!
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Balloons, drink, boys, bitches...
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'..and talking to regular guys to find out
0:01:12 > 0:01:17'the truth behind the accusations made against Pakistani men.'
0:01:22 > 0:01:25I'm Adil Ray and I grew up here in Birmingham,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30home to Britain's biggest Pakistani community outside of London.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38But right now, being British Pakistani is nothing to shout about.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44'We're seen as suicide bombers, sporting cheats and now perverts.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49'Young Asian men are being accused of exploiting teenage girls.'
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Brilliant, just what we needed(!)
0:01:54 > 0:01:58The last year has seen one after another high profile court case
0:01:58 > 0:02:01hit the headlines in which gangs of Pakistani men
0:02:01 > 0:02:05have been found guilty of targeting teenage white girls for sex.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And this is what it's all about on-street grooming.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15Asian men cruising around a city centre
0:02:15 > 0:02:18on the look out for vulnerable young girls.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Their victims are enticed in for a ride and, for them,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25what seems an innocent friendship or even romance.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28But once that confidence is won,
0:02:28 > 0:02:34the relationship turns to sexual exploitation, rape and brutality.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45This is a personal journey for me and it's one I feel I have to make.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49I want to find out how these young girls are falling victim to on-street grooming,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53how big a problem it is, what's causing it,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56and what can be done to stop it.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01As a British Pakistani, I know I'm not going to like some of the things I'm about to discover.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05But it's really important to understand what's going on here.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14Two Asian men have been given long jail sentences for abusing white girls in Derby...
0:03:14 > 0:03:18'I'm a broadcaster and I'm a British Pakistani.'
0:03:18 > 0:03:23..a quarter of men accused of grooming may be Asian.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Comments made by the former Home Secretary Jack Straw a few months ago caught my attention.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32He talked about the sexual attitudes of some British Pakistani men.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37Pakistani heritage men, some of some age as well,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41who target vulnerable young white girls.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Was he right to make the comments that he did?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48To suggest this was ingrained within Pakistani young men
0:03:48 > 0:03:51was deeply patronising and offensive.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54He did say it was a minority in the Pakistani community
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and he did point out that most sex offenders are white.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00These young men are in a Western society in any event,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04they act like any other young men, they are fizzing
0:04:04 > 0:04:09and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12but Pakistani heritage girls are off limits.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13Sadly, there is a problem
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and for too long we've been burying our heads in the sand.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19There should be no hiding place and we should take them on.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22I think the community is waking up to that reality.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Mohammed Shafiq, thanks for joining us here on 5Live, the time now is 11.24.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Since the initial media storm after he made these comments,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Jack Straw hasn't given any more interviews on the subject of grooming.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39When we approached him, his office said he was unavailable for comment.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41I'm heading up north on the M6 to Blackburn,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Jack Straw's constituency.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Many British Pakistanis are unhappy with his comments
0:04:47 > 0:04:49and some of them voted for him.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55A fifth of Jack Straw's constituents are Asian.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Blackburn has seen its fair share of trouble over the years,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02including riots almost a decade ago,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06but locals have worked hard to heal community tensions ever since.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11I've come to meet three Blackburn lads who think what the MP said
0:05:11 > 0:05:16about grooming was offensive and potentially inflammatory.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21They mounted a campaign to get Jack Straw to apologise.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24What was it about what he said that bothered you so much?
0:05:24 > 0:05:27The fact that he generalised across the board.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Five people out of 100 might do it, that doesn't mean 100 of them do it.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32I do a lot of coaching,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35there's loads of kids and with their parents watching,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38are they thinking he's teaching my daughter how to play some cricket
0:05:38 > 0:05:41but is he thinking something else?
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Do you think in any way Jack Straw was right to bring up those comments?
0:05:44 > 0:05:49This is Jack Straw. Why can't he go inside a mosque and speak to the Imam over there?
0:05:49 > 0:05:52why can't he speak to an elder within his house
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and try to address this problem within the Asians?
0:05:54 > 0:05:56I think he's got it wrong. Totally wrong.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59A criminal's a criminal, a paedophile's a paedophile.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01You don't racialize criminality.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06A criminal will always be a criminal no matter what his colour is,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10what his religion is, what his sex is, a criminal's a criminal.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Jack Straw apologised for his choice of words and for any offence
0:06:14 > 0:06:17he may have caused to British Pakistanis,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19but not for speaking out.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23The fact is, if he hadn't, then a lot of people, including me
0:06:23 > 0:06:27may not have engaged with this important issue.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35I want to get to the bottom of just how widespread this crime is,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40but details are sketchy as there hasn't been much research done on the subject.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48When you look at sex offenders as a whole, over 80% are white,
0:06:48 > 0:06:54so clearly the vast majority of Pakistani men are not sexual predators.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57But when it comes to this specific crime,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00on-street grooming, a recent government study found
0:07:00 > 0:07:05that a quarter of men suspected of taking part were described as Asian.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08But reports of criminal convictions
0:07:08 > 0:07:11suggest the real figure could be much higher.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15What's interesting here looking at some of the newspaper reports
0:07:15 > 0:07:19are the names of the people that have been convicted.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21They are a lot of Asian names clearly,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24but the vast majority are Pakistani.
0:07:24 > 0:07:30I'm seeing Hussains, Alis, Shahs, Khans, Raja,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32they are Pakistani Muslim names.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38I've found around 20 cases that fit the on-street grooming model in the past ten years
0:07:38 > 0:07:42and of them, around four out of every five men found guilty
0:07:42 > 0:07:45are of Pakistani Muslim origin.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48'Work is being done to investigate the sexual grooming
0:07:48 > 0:07:51'of vulnerable teenage girls...'
0:07:51 > 0:07:54'..three month operation into suspected organised crime.'
0:07:54 > 0:07:58'...whether there are any patterns emerging in street grooming of young girls...'
0:07:58 > 0:08:02'..treated a group of teenagers as sex objects...'
0:08:02 > 0:08:06To find out what's behind the grooming stories continuing to make the headlines,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09I'm off to meet the man who wrote many of them.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12The first to investigate the link between Pakistani men
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and on-street grooming was Times journalist, Andrew Norfolk.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20He's examined criminal cases going back as far as 1997
0:08:20 > 0:08:24and I'm hoping he can fill me in on how these gangs operate.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28I think, from what I can gather in the cases I've been looking at,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33there's a fair sense of contempt for the white girl who's there and available,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37and is worthless in the minds of the men who are doing this to her.
0:08:37 > 0:08:43Where one gets into sensitive territory here is, these are lads who've grown up in this country.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47The values at home belong to a different country,
0:08:47 > 0:08:52where their sister, their cousin is an object of...
0:08:52 > 0:08:54to be protected at all costs.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Her chastity is to be protected at all costs.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02But they're growing up in a Western society where sex is on a plate every time they open a newspaper,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and white lads your age are going out and having sex with anything that moves.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08And as a white journalist, if you don't mind me asking,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10how much success have you had with this?
0:09:10 > 0:09:14We've had some strong criticism from people who clearly feel
0:09:14 > 0:09:19we've ventured into territory that we had no right to venture into,
0:09:19 > 0:09:24who would seem to say that we are attempting to make effectively a racist point.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29All we're trying to do is highlight a very specific model.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31But what we're saying is it's happening in almost
0:09:31 > 0:09:34every single town and city in the Midlands, in the North,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39and it's time somebody tried to do some work to understand why.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Andrew is right.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Of course this is a sensitive area,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47but unless we try to understand it, nothing will change.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54A few days later, I'm in Burnley's Asian area,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59where the town's Bangladeshi and Pakistani residents mostly live.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01'I happen to meet a group of Bangladeshi lads,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04'so I decide to chat to them about girls.'
0:10:04 > 0:10:05How you doing boys?
0:10:05 > 0:10:09'They're nervous about talking openly so don't want to show their faces.'
0:10:09 > 0:10:10How you doing? All right?
0:10:10 > 0:10:14- Your faces aren't being filmed, so you don't have to worry about that. - A bit more lower.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18So tell me, what do you guys do for a night out?
0:10:18 > 0:10:20- What do we do?- Where do you hang out and stuff?
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Local, innit. Balloons, drinks, boys, bitches. Shit like that.
0:10:24 > 0:10:25- The main problem is racism. - Right.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28You're not a racist but... You know what I'm saying?
0:10:28 > 0:10:31When you say bitches, what do you mean? Girls?
0:10:31 > 0:10:33That's our way of saying girls, innit?
0:10:33 > 0:10:35We don't mean it no wrong way, like female dogs.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39We don't mean it like that, we mean like girls. You get me?
0:10:39 > 0:10:40Where do you find girls from?
0:10:40 > 0:10:43We don't find the girls, the girls find us, innit?
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Right. Have you got a girlfriend?
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Not one, couple. Why? You want one of them?
0:10:48 > 0:10:51I might do at some point, yeah!
0:10:51 > 0:10:54- Keep the camera down. - It's down, we don't want a picture of your face.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58- No problem, you know what I'm saying? - So are they Asian, are they white?
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Everything, mix. Keep it down.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04What's it like dating a white girl in Burnley?
0:11:04 > 0:11:09It's hard, innit. Like all them, you know - well, I don't wanna say white people, but I gotta say it.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12"What's he doing with a white girl?" In the park,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14park rangers kick us out cos we with a white girl.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Hang on, that's news to me. So you go to the park?
0:11:17 > 0:11:19Yeah, with white girls and they're like, "What you doing?"
0:11:19 > 0:11:22They think we're bribing them, giving them money to shag them,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25shit like that, but we're not that type.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28They're like, "Let me take your name, you're probably grooming that girl,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31- paying her, bribing her", shit like that.- Has this happened to you?
0:11:31 > 0:11:33It's happened to me, not only once...
0:11:33 > 0:11:35- Everyone. - Bare times, yeah.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39The park rangers, they're cock blockers, man. You know what I mean by cock blockers?
0:11:39 > 0:11:41- No, what do you mean? - How shall I explain that?
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Cos they couldn't get a suck, they don't want you to get a suck. So they block that shit.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Right. Thanks very much.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55That group of lads were by no means the voice of Asian youth.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00But I can see how easy it is for guy like that to feel unfairly targeted.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06The police have to strike a delicate balance when dealing with on-street grooming.
0:12:08 > 0:12:1420 miles away in Preston, I've come to spend a shift with one of Lancashire Police's
0:12:14 > 0:12:17six sexual exploitation teams to see how they do it.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22The Deter team, headed by DS Paul Burnside, check up on suspected offenders,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and look for potential victims in the places young people hang out,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29trying to stop grooming before it happens.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32So what kind of things will you be looking out for here?
0:12:32 > 0:12:35You know, the bus station, the train station,
0:12:35 > 0:12:42these at times can be magnets for perpetrators to arrange to meet young people.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47I can see your team just behind us there, chatting to a couple of girls there.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51This is not about, you know, "What are you doing here?" You know, the big finger coming out,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53it's just about engaging them in conversation.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57'The team weren't worried about those girls and move on.'
0:12:57 > 0:13:01So what do you know about the ages of these girls then? How young are they?
0:13:01 > 0:13:05They're as young as 11.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07- 11 is incredibly young, isn't it? - Yeah.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11You know, as an 11-year-old, you are vulnerable.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16So we're dealing with young people now who are going through that teenage stage in life,
0:13:16 > 0:13:24you know, who are entering or approaching adulthood and cannot see their vulnerability.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27And that's what these perpetrators play on.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30In an ethnically diverse area like Preston,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33offenders and victims come from all sorts of backgrounds,
0:13:33 > 0:13:38but the team's intelligence tells them the methods are often the same.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42A lot of our referrals have been in relation to some of these takeaways.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47The repeated story that we're getting back very simply is that they've engaged in a relationship,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and in most cases it started off with them coming in,
0:13:50 > 0:13:58and they've been offered a free sandwich, kebab or whatever the takeaway is selling.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02So it's something as small as that. A free kebab.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07To build the trust up is so much easier than doing that with an adult,
0:14:07 > 0:14:09because an adult is more worldly wise.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12That's the thing that gets me now, is that if you had that mentality,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15if you wanted to groom young children, it seems to be...
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Potentially it could be very easy, because you meet these young girls,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21and it's just the price of a burger and chips. What's that? £2?
0:14:21 > 0:14:23They're gaining that friendship,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and all along they're thinking at some point
0:14:26 > 0:14:29there will be sexual activity.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32And that is why we do stuff like we're doing now,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and it's to nip that in the bud before it happens.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42As the evening draws in, the team continue to look for vulnerable teenagers.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Sadly, this type of preventative work isn't nationwide,
0:14:49 > 0:14:55and as many as 2,000 young people fall victim to sexual exploitation every year.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Now I've seen how a victim's trust is won,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02I want to understand where the grooming process leads next.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06So I've come to meet a young woman, Emma -
0:15:06 > 0:15:10although that's not her real name.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12- Hi Emma, how you doing? Adil. - Nice to meet you.
0:15:12 > 0:15:13Lovely to meet you.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17'What is all too real is her description of the brutal treatment
0:15:17 > 0:15:20'she received at the hands of a group of Asian lads,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24'who befriended her when she was just 12.'
0:15:24 > 0:15:26What actually happened when you were 12?
0:15:26 > 0:15:31I just started going to a local shopping centre, in children's arcade,
0:15:31 > 0:15:37and I got approached by teenage boys, who was a couple of years older than me.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41And then they started to introduce me to older men,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45who had flash cars. You know, they wasn't strangers.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48A 30-year-old didn't pull up at side of me in a BMW
0:15:48 > 0:15:52and ask me if I wanted to get in, and he'd take me for a McDonalds,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55cos I would have said no.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58I'd spent 12 months with these people
0:15:58 > 0:16:01and they were friends of people who I trusted.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07After almost a year of hanging out with her new group of friends,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10one older man in his 30s began to single Emma out.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15- So when did the abuse start then? - After I met Tarik,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18probably about a month later, a couple of months.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23I was on the floor and he was ripping my trousers and all my clothes off,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25and he was on top of me,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and there was a gang of men stood watching and laughing,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30and he'd started to rape me.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Then there was one man holding my arms and pinning me down,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38and trying to put his penis in my mouth,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42and another one holding my legs down as well.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45And someone holding my friend's eyes open, making her watch.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48- All Pakistani men?- Yeah.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51I was a virgin, and he'd raped me quite brutally,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54and I'd got a white coat on,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and he got the blood and wiped it all down my white coat,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01and my friend had to take me to the toilet and sort me out.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05She was trying to scrub the blood off my coat, because I couldn't go home like that,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and I was really upset and I was crying,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13and she was just saying that, you know, making out as though I've over-reacted.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19No-one ever around me made out that what had happened was wrong.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23It was made out as though that was right and it was acceptable and that's life.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26It's remarkable that after this horrific rape,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30the teenager still thought these boys and men were her friends.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36It shows how chillingly effective the 12 months the gang invested in grooming Emma really were.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40By now, she was distanced from her real friends and family.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43They'd isolated me from everything and everyone.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45My only friends were these people.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The way they groomed me was through drugs and alcohol.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52But my biggest drug was these men.
0:17:55 > 0:18:02They were like my habit, and it was getting over that,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and I just felt like, you know, it was normal.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08That was just life.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10- Are you OK? - Yeah.- Sure?
0:18:10 > 0:18:11Yeah.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14It must have been such a confused state to be in.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It didn't end there, did it?
0:18:16 > 0:18:19It just got worse.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Tariq used to rape me once a week, every week.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27I used to think, maybe he must really fancied me or something,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30but it wasn't, it was about controlling me
0:18:30 > 0:18:32and letting me know where my place was.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34They'd lock me in flats,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37and I'd have to do things with men in flats.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39I'd be locked in bedroom, locked in bedroom
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and they'd just send man after man after man in
0:18:42 > 0:18:46and that was just life and that was every day.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Extreme violence and threats to Emma's family,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54including that her mother would be raped,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57kept her in this cycle of systematic abuse.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The teenager saw no way out.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05I'm finding it pretty hard to come to terms with what Emma has told me.
0:19:08 > 0:19:14The fact that these men, these guys from the Pakistani community,
0:19:14 > 0:19:19the community I've been very much a part of, would do this to her,
0:19:19 > 0:19:25it just disgusts me and I just cannot understand why.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34There's little more than a million British Pakistanis
0:19:34 > 0:19:38and throughout this small population, everyone is asking the same question.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42How could these crimes happen? To try to find some answers,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46I've come to visit a town grappling with grooming head on.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It's Friday afternoon and British Muslims around the country
0:19:49 > 0:19:52will be off to their mosque to read their prayers
0:19:52 > 0:19:53and hear a sermon from their Imam.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56I'm in Rochdale and at a local Mosque,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58this Imam has a particular challenge.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Just over a week ago, two members of his congregation
0:20:01 > 0:20:03were convicted in a rape case
0:20:03 > 0:20:07that has all the classic hallmarks of on-street grooming.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11'Detective Sergeant Paul Langley, says it's a shocking case of child exploitation.'
0:20:11 > 0:20:14'It's one of the worst cases that I and my colleagues have dealt with.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'One of the victims was subject to a number of brutal rapes by all three men.'
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Two brothers and their cousin, all in their 30s,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25have been given indefinite jail sentences
0:20:25 > 0:20:27for raping two 16-year-olds.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31My dear brothers and sisters, my mothers listening downstairs.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37Just last Saturday, I saw an image on the front page of a newspaper
0:20:37 > 0:20:43that really made me want to dig a hole and die.
0:20:43 > 0:20:50I saw an image of three Muslims committing a sexual act.
0:20:50 > 0:20:56Young girls, even before the age of consent.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00What has happened to this nation of Muslims?
0:21:00 > 0:21:03What has happened to us as a community
0:21:03 > 0:21:10when we have Muslims, who kidnap young innocent lives?
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And who rape them and pillage them.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Crimes that we can't even define in the limits of the Qur'an.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20The men involved in this case lived near here
0:21:20 > 0:21:25and some members of the congregation will know them or be related to them.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29It's pretty brave for the Imam, Irfan Chishti, to speak out in this way.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32After prayers, I'm hoping to talk to him.
0:21:32 > 0:21:33But I have to wait.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Down in the women's prayer room,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39he's speaking to the mother of the two brothers convicted in the case.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Half-an-hour later, he's back and can talk to me.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48It's harder when we know that two of the guys involved in the case
0:21:48 > 0:21:52were regulars and came to this mosque.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54I wouldn't call them regulars.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59I mean there's two brothers and there's one associate friend.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03I have met them personally, I know them.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07I think the most why I'm quite upset even now,
0:22:07 > 0:22:14is that I've just had a conversation with the mother of the two brothers
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and she's obviously quite distraught and quite upset.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20It has devastated lives, it's devastated children.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21People like myself and others,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24we need to do more to educate this community of ours.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34British Pakistanis tend to be a tight knit bunch
0:22:34 > 0:22:39and I'm wondering how it feels to know you've been rubbing shoulders with a groomer.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43So I've arranged to meet some lads who might be able to tell me.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46What was your reaction to the recent case here?
0:22:46 > 0:22:49You want your area to be known for something good.
0:22:49 > 0:22:50Maybe football or whichever way.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Known for something as bad as this,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and on top of that, somebody that you possibly know...
0:22:56 > 0:23:00Have you ever come across the guys that were involved in these crimes?
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Those two brothers and that cousin who got jailed recently,
0:23:03 > 0:23:08my mate was telling me, I couldn't believe it, I was so shocked.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12I was with that guy, I was chatting to him about four or five times.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14He seemed such a nice guy.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16He had a wife, he had kids,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19he used to be taking his kids to school.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20I was... It was disgusting,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24I couldn't believe that kind of guy could do such a thing.
0:23:24 > 0:23:25It's just shocking.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28The guy lived down the road, I couldn't believe that.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31It's sad to say that this guy was all right at the time
0:23:31 > 0:23:33but he could do something like that.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It is scary, you lose that trust in general with other people.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39English Defence League have come into the town
0:23:39 > 0:23:41and done the demonstrations
0:23:41 > 0:23:45and that's left the town now picking up the pieces there.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48All the years of work that was done to build community relations,
0:23:48 > 0:23:53between people of different backgrounds, races, faiths.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55With this one issue now, that polarised discussion,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57we're going to have to start all over again.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08It's easy to see how this issue could cause racial tension
0:24:08 > 0:24:10as Mohammed Shafiq knows.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13He appeared on the radio with me a few weeks ago
0:24:13 > 0:24:15and now he's taking me for dinner at his local.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22- How are you doing?- Welcome to Rochdale.- Nice to see you again.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24- Shall we get some food? - Yeah.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Is this is your manor then?
0:24:26 > 0:24:29It certainly is, this is where I come if I want some good food.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30What would you recommend?
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Seekh kebabs.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35'As part of his community work,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39'Shafiq has been speaking out about these kinds of crimes since 2006.'
0:24:39 > 0:24:44- So this is good stuff, is it? - It's very good.- Let's tuck in.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47We'll soon find out if you southerners like it.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50You've been talking quite openly about this issue
0:24:50 > 0:24:52for probably longer than most - for some time, haven't you?
0:24:52 > 0:24:57I think I was the first person to talk about this in 2006.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00There were times where I was accused of doing the work of the BNP.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03I received death threats.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08I received excrement through my door. So yeah, it was a dark period.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11When the community sees a guilty verdict,
0:25:11 > 0:25:12do you think they realise,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"You know, maybe we have got a bit of a problem"?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18That's been significant and if you look at the Derby case,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22earlier on this year, I think that was the turning point for me
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and the reaction from the community, because people said,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29"Wait, there must be truth to it." The evidence was damning.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Now that the floodgates have opened,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34people are more confident talking about these crimes,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36and we are going to see real change.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The on-street grooming case Shafiq is talking about in Derby,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54was one of the most high profile to date.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59The national media spotlight was turned on the small Midlands city
0:25:59 > 0:26:03when two men at the heart of a sexual exploitation ring
0:26:03 > 0:26:07were sentenced for an array of sickening sexual crimes.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10One of the reasons the case caught national attention,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14was the CCTV released by Derbyshire police,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18catching the perpetrators, who targeted girls as young as 12, in action.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22The jury heard that the defendants referred to one of the cars
0:26:22 > 0:26:24as the Rape Rover.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29The backlash feared in Rochdale has been felt
0:26:29 > 0:26:32by this small Pakistani community
0:26:32 > 0:26:36and on the frontline are its takeaway workers and cabbies like Tanveer.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39How did it affect you personally because you're a taxi drive?
0:26:39 > 0:26:42They were calling up the taxi's
0:26:42 > 0:26:44but when we approached the actual address,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48some people used to approach the car and then just walk away.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51So they'd call a taxi, you turn up,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54they see it's an Asian bloke, Pakistani, Muslim bloke...
0:26:54 > 0:26:57"Not getting in, mate." Did they ever say anything to you?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00- You would get some abuse, yeah. - What kind of things would they say?
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Things like paedophile, you know, things like that.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06Just silly comments, racial comments.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08I don't want to get deep into it but it was nasty.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12- So they called you a paedophile while they were in your cab? - That's right.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15It's not nice when you're driving, you've got three guys in the back
0:27:15 > 0:27:19- and they're calling you paedophile. - How did that make you feel?
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Small. Didn't feel really good, really bad.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Obviously, the community itself, it's very good
0:27:27 > 0:27:31but the small minority has cast a big shadow over the whole community.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40All too aware of the potential impact on the local community,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45Derbyshire Police had to be certain they had a cast iron case.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52The ground-breaking investigation, named Operation Retriever,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55was led by Detective Superintendent Debbie Platt.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Why was this case so unusual?
0:27:58 > 0:28:01It was unusual because we used very different tactics
0:28:01 > 0:28:03to deal with the organised crime group.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07The team focused on gathering corroborating evidence.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09As none of the young girls had come forward,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13police couldn't be certain of their testimony in court.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17The other unusual factor was the number of victims involved.
0:28:17 > 0:28:18We'd got 27 young people,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21the youngest one only being 12 years of age.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26'Months of undercover investigations involving dozens of officers
0:28:26 > 0:28:28'came to a head one night in 2009.'
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Tell me about the surveillance and what you found.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34What happened that night was incredible.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36They picked up two girls,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39these were two girls that had never ever met these men before.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Within minutes of the car driving up at the side of them,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45these girls naively got into that vehicle.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47They were then driven outside of the city.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50They were eventually that night brought back to Derby
0:28:50 > 0:28:53and for some reason, they were dropped off.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57The vehicle driven by our two principal subjects drove around the city
0:28:57 > 0:29:01and they were relentless in trying to get more girls into that vehicle.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06That night the men cruised around Derby for two hours,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09looking for and approaching girls.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12But they had no more success,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15and a surveillance team followed the pair back to a block of flats
0:29:15 > 0:29:20at around 2.00am and kept watch, not knowing which flat they had entered.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24At 5.00am, a 14-year-old girl emerged and was tailed by officers
0:29:24 > 0:29:27who overhead a shocking revelation.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31She disclosed that she had been orally raped within a block of flats
0:29:31 > 0:29:33by Asian males.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The police picked them up but more importantly,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39when the offending group came out and got into the vehicle,
0:29:39 > 0:29:41they were all arrested at that point.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44How are you dealing with the fact that it appears that
0:29:44 > 0:29:47a disproportionate number of men involved in this type of grooming,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49not just in Derby, but across the country
0:29:49 > 0:29:51come from the Pakistani community?
0:29:51 > 0:29:54It's difficult for me to confirm that,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58because if I look, and I've been in this role for three years now,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01the vast majority of offenders that we deal with in child abuse
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and child exploitation are white males without a shadow of doubt.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07If I look at the number of registered sex offenders
0:30:07 > 0:30:09that we are managing in the community,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11they are predominantly white males.
0:30:11 > 0:30:17Operation Retriever involved a number of men from Asian backgrounds
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and you can't deny that, that's the facts of that case.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23That's exactly what I want to get to the bottom of.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27If the men responsible for general sex offences are mostly white,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30why is it that so many of those convicted of this specific type
0:30:30 > 0:30:33of sexual exploitation, are Pakistani men?
0:30:38 > 0:30:41I'm wondering whether the environment they come from
0:30:41 > 0:30:43has something to do with it.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46So, I'm heading back to Derby's Normanton Road,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49a pretty typical Asian shopping street.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54I want to find out about rumours I've heard that, around here,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57it's pretty normal for white girls to get approached by Asian men.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01In a local takeaway, I met Tara.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05You see it all the time. You see cars stopping, or whatever.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09Cars have stopped, to me and my friends, before, like, in the past.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14You just walk down the street, and the guy could say, like, "Sexy", or "Mmm!"
0:31:14 > 0:31:18Or... it makes me feel sick. It really does.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22- So, you walk down the street, and a car pulls up next to you.- Yeah.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24And what do they say?
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Er, just say things like, "You're looking nice", or,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33we're going to go to a party, or something, or go out for some drinks.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37Do you know what else? The guys always tend to be old. 30, 40.
0:31:37 > 0:31:44I don't understand why a grown man would want to go out drinking with a young girl.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47It's just, and I bet they have daughters,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49I bet they've got younger sisters.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52I'm trying to work out the difference is between
0:31:52 > 0:31:56some girls who's saying, I'm going to get in a Pakistani guy's car
0:31:56 > 0:31:58and someone like you, who obviously didn't.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Maybe the girls do want to have a good time.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03And I think the guys know that.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05I think all they're thinking of is,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08he's probably got money, he can buy me drink,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11he could buy me cigarettes, I'll have a wicked time.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14They don't think of the consequences.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18It's hard to see this friendly shopping area
0:32:18 > 0:32:21as a hunting ground for sexual predators.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26But, as the shops shut for the day, I feel the atmosphere change.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33That evening, a local youth representative wants to take me
0:32:33 > 0:32:37for a drive, to show me some of the problems facing his area.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41How does this sort of part of Derby change by night, then?
0:32:41 > 0:32:46It becomes a sort of, you would say, a red light district, of the city.
0:32:46 > 0:32:47- Really?- Yeah.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50So, will there be prostitutes, working here tonight?
0:32:50 > 0:32:52They do, most nights.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56So, I can see a girl on the corner here, wearing a short skirt,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59and she's obviously white, there's three of them here,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01it's quite obvious, isn't it?
0:33:01 > 0:33:05We've had problems with prostitution for a very long time.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07On this corner, you can see, you know...
0:33:07 > 0:33:09So I can see a girl there.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12I can see two girls, one on each corner.
0:33:12 > 0:33:13And you go down 300 yards
0:33:13 > 0:33:16and there's Muslim chaps been to read their late prayer.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20I just saw a couple of girls who look like prostitutes, all in the same street.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24It's amazing, actually, that you have this very religious Pakistani community,
0:33:24 > 0:33:26but right next door to them,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29on the same street, you've got this prostitution.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34The prostitution, it brings all the crime to the areas.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37People are coming into Normanton for drugs.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40So, for some Pakistani men, the traditional ones,
0:33:40 > 0:33:44that perhaps weren't born here, that have come here recently,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46to see white prostitutes on their street corners,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50do you think that can have an effect?
0:33:50 > 0:33:53You don't know whose a prostitute, who is not,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56who is over the age of 16, and who's not.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01And you can see how easy it is for people,
0:34:01 > 0:34:07regardless of background, to get involved in these sorts of acts.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11By night, this place has completely changed.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14It's hard to believe that, only a few hours ago,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Pakistani families were here doing their grocery shopping.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Now, in Derby, this is the place to come if you want drugs,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23drink, or prostitution.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27This street's problems don't in any way excuse what these men did.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29But now that I've spent time here at night,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33I can see how this environment could be
0:34:33 > 0:34:37a potential breeding ground for sexual exploitation.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42The next day, Normanton Road is once again a family-friendly shopping street.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46This is the area where the men behind these crimes grew up.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48And I want to find out a bit more about them.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54I've arranged to meet up with the chairman of the local Pakistani community centre.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Why is it happening in the Pakistani community then?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58I wish I knew the answer to that.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01In Derby's case, for example, it wasn't about money.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05It wasn't about prostitution itself. That's not what came out of this case.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08So, they weren't charging lots of money and making money?
0:35:08 > 0:35:10They already had flash cars, anyway.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14There was no evidence that what they were doing was pimping the girls out.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18In this particular case, it was nothing more than actual entertainment.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20You know, it was about using and abusing the girls,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23for their own pleasure and, more than anything,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27what emerged from the case was, it was like a level of bravado.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Sort of passing the girls onto someone else,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31saying "look what I brought you, look what I've got,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33"look what I can bring to the table."
0:35:36 > 0:35:40The idea that the sexual abuse of a teenage girl is a way
0:35:40 > 0:35:42to gain respect is sickening.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48But it tells me a lot about the mindset of these gangs.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52The rules they're living by are not the same as the rest of us.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56They seem to be prepared to use any means to get what they want,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59as one mum I arranged to meet knows only too well.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03I'm in Yorkshire, but I can't say exactly where.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05We won't be filming her in her real home,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08and you won't hear her voice or see her face.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12That's because the family are afraid that they'll be threatened
0:36:12 > 0:36:14if they're recognised.
0:36:14 > 0:36:15We're calling her Mary.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19When she realised her 12-year-old daughter had been
0:36:19 > 0:36:23groomed by a gang of Asian men, she was forced to investigate,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26to try to stop the continued abuse.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30- This file is full of information that you've gathered.- It is, yeah.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33- These are notes you've made on each of them?- Yeah.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36The ages, what they look like.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40As soon as we were digging and digging more, then we were targeted.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43They threatened to come and kill us.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48They came to the house, they did that to the garage.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52So, this mentions your daughter's name and some horrific insults.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Yeah. And they put placards all over the village,
0:36:55 > 0:36:57planks of wood with the same kind of derogatory...
0:36:57 > 0:36:59So other people could see.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Yeah. Our daughter was absolutely terrified.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07You know, she'd lock herself in the house.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11But when they came, she had no option but to go with them
0:37:11 > 0:37:13because they threaten to kill us, you see,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16- or threatened to firebomb the house. - Oh, dear.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21'It took three years, but despite the terrifying campaign of intimidation,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24'Mary's daughter eventually got away from the gang.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27'But she was still so afraid, she couldn't give enough details
0:37:27 > 0:37:30'to the police for the men to be charged.'
0:37:30 > 0:37:34How does it affect you and your daughter when you see Asian or Pakistani men?
0:37:34 > 0:37:39We're absolutely fine, because we know that there are only certain ones that are bad.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43We know that everybody else is not like them.
0:37:46 > 0:37:47I feel ashamed.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51I'm finding it hard to accept that these guys are Pakistanis,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55because in the Pakistani community, we are taught about family values.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59That is at the heart of being Pakistani, it's about family values.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02And yet, these guys are destroying families.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Somehow, men who grew up with the same clear moral code as me
0:38:12 > 0:38:16think the sexual abuse of young teenage girls is acceptable.
0:38:16 > 0:38:17But why?
0:38:21 > 0:38:23What I really want to try and find out is whether
0:38:23 > 0:38:27there's anything within the Pakistani community itself
0:38:27 > 0:38:30that could be a contributing factor to all of this.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39One of the ways British Pakistanis have upheld traditional values
0:38:39 > 0:38:42is by weddings arranged between families
0:38:42 > 0:38:45or within the same religious sect, caste, or clan.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49The often successful practice of cousin marriage is carried out
0:38:49 > 0:38:51by as many as half of all British Pakistanis.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58But, could it be that this survival technique
0:38:58 > 0:39:03has now become the very thing pushing some young British Asians into secretive sex lives?
0:39:03 > 0:39:05MUSIC: "A New London Eye" by Asian Dub Foundation
0:39:05 > 0:39:08# Moments flashing, cultures clashing, every single day, yeah
0:39:08 > 0:39:11# Number crunching box-a-ticking pastime activity, yeah
0:39:11 > 0:39:14# Words are spinnin', people grinnin', careful what you say
0:39:14 > 0:39:16# Seen through my London eye... #
0:39:18 > 0:39:21I've come back to Burnley.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24I'm meeting a group of four mates, two Pakistani and two Bangladeshi.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27I want to find out whether they have trouble
0:39:27 > 0:39:30balancing parental expectations and relationships.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Are you guys expected to marry within, not only religion,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38but perhaps within caste, within communities?
0:39:38 > 0:39:39Is that, kind of...?
0:39:39 > 0:39:42It's sort of the done thing to do.
0:39:42 > 0:39:43Even, some people, they marry
0:39:43 > 0:39:47sort of relatives back home in Pakistan, Bangladesh or India.
0:39:47 > 0:39:52If, you and a girlfriend, are you able to openly have a relationship?
0:39:52 > 0:39:53No, no. That's out of the question.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56Why is that out of the question?
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Because, it's Asian values, it's religion, it's religion as well.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Because the majority of people here here are Muslim,
0:40:04 > 0:40:08so you have that big major divide, as in, guys and girls.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13So does that mean that there are no Asian lads in Burnley going out with girls?
0:40:13 > 0:40:19They are, but it's all undercover. The parents would be totally oblivious to it.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22And then it comes down to, because when you see a guy,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25for a girlfriend, he'll favour a white girl,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29but then, for a wife, he'll favour an Asian lass.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33A lot of the white girls, and I'm not meaning to stereotype,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35when you're 17, 18, 19-years-old,
0:40:35 > 0:40:39very few of them will be thinking about marriage.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42A lot of them, just want to have fun and getting on, and stuff like that.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45With an Asian girl, as soon as you get with an Asian girl,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48they will think marriage and stuff like that.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51So a lot of Asian guys will tend to stay away from Asian girls.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Say, when you go out to a nightclub or something, just to have a bit of fun on the lash with the lads,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00you won't see many Asian girls, if you go out in Burnley.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02It is a closed community, in that way.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Everyone sort of knows each other.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07If an Asian girl was seen out in the club,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10before the night ended, her family would know it.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12It is the same for the lad, as well.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17Have you guys shown restraint? Never have girlfriends?
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Of course! No. No!
0:41:20 > 0:41:21Never have girlfriends?
0:41:21 > 0:41:22- No.- No.- No, no?
0:41:24 > 0:41:27- Not on camera, anyway! - THEY LAUGH
0:41:31 > 0:41:34It's Saturday night in Burnley, and it doesn't take long for me
0:41:34 > 0:41:36to see what the lads were talking about.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39One thing that's clearly obvious to me here,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42for a town that's got a sizeable Pakistani community,
0:41:42 > 0:41:47I haven't seen one Pakistani boy or girl here on a night out.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Looking around, I realise that,
0:41:49 > 0:41:52whilst I may only be a mile away from the town's Asian area,
0:41:52 > 0:41:53it seems a world away.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00The only Asian faces are working in the takeaways and driving taxis.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05It's 4.00am now, in Burnley, and the revellers
0:42:05 > 0:42:08have made it up the road from the bars where the drinks were cheap.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12They're staggering out of the clubs and they're pretty hammered.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15This is the kind of Saturday night display
0:42:15 > 0:42:18seen in towns and cities up and down the country.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23But it's one way of letting inhibitions go that's not an option for young British Asians.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29I'm wondering if the strong moral code Asians are expected to live by,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33including no sex before marriage,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36means that young British Pakistanis simply don't act this way.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Or, are these taboo behaviours just sent underground?
0:42:44 > 0:42:46- Hi, Salaam aleikum. - Salaam, how you doing?
0:42:46 > 0:42:50I'm very well, thank you. Lovely place you have.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54'I've come to meet a Muslim writer and relationship counsellor,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57who advocates being more open about sex.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59He also happens to be an Imam.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02So, you've worked quite a lot in the area of marriage
0:43:02 > 0:43:04and relationships, sexual health, etc?
0:43:04 > 0:43:08Why are a lot of Asian Pakistani people growing up thinking
0:43:08 > 0:43:12you just don't even talk about it, that it is the greatest ever taboo?
0:43:12 > 0:43:15It is the greatest gift God has given us, as far as Islam is concerned.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Without that gift, you and I wouldn't be here on this earth.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23I think there is an unhealthy attitude towards sex and sexuality, in Pakistani men.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25Not just Pakistani men, but Asian men.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Parents tend to shy away from discussing the topic.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31It isn't allowed, in Islam, as far as they're concerned.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34I had a guy who recently spoke to me, saying,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37when he got married, before he got married, his uncle advised,
0:43:37 > 0:43:40"Their girls, just use them and forget about them."
0:43:40 > 0:43:43So, the uncle said, you're about to get married.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45The advice from the uncle to the nephew was,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49"It's a girl. We use them for sex."
0:43:49 > 0:43:51It's a dirty thing you do anyway.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55As soon as you've sex, make sure you jump out and have a shower.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59I mean that kind of a sick mindset that is being perpetuated
0:43:59 > 0:44:04by some families or some individuals, it's pretty unhealthy.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07In my view, a contributory factor that people are forced into
0:44:07 > 0:44:11or emotionally blackmailed into preserving their family honour
0:44:11 > 0:44:13by marrying their cousins not a good thing.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16You can also put in to that caste, and bradhri
0:44:16 > 0:44:19which they call as caste, because that's also another issue as well,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22because all these things, if you're required to marry
0:44:22 > 0:44:24within a certain caste or marry a cousin
0:44:24 > 0:44:26that limits the girls you can marry
0:44:26 > 0:44:28and if you're not in a happy situation,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31and like most marriages if people aren't happy,
0:44:31 > 0:44:34- they tend to go elsewhere looking for that happiness. - And they do, indeed.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Many young people do exactly that. They get married to their cousins
0:44:38 > 0:44:40whilst they retain their girlfriends.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43And this, almost contradictory personality, does contribute
0:44:43 > 0:44:46to an unhealthy attitude towards sex and sexual relationships.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50And what about the attitude towards white girls? Is there an issue there?
0:44:50 > 0:44:52The majority are respectful, I believe.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Some are thinking to themselves, "OK, I don't want to do rubbish
0:44:55 > 0:44:59"in my own front yard, do I? I don't want to do that, so I am going to
0:44:59 > 0:45:03"go and find white girls, the girls that are not my own communities."
0:45:03 > 0:45:06That attitude, that they are perhaps cheap, perhaps value-less,
0:45:06 > 0:45:11that attitude is very wrong. We cannot treat human beings like this.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13We are all human beings, not cheap meat.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19I thought it was really refreshing to hear Ajmal talk about
0:45:19 > 0:45:22this notion of an unhealthy attitude to sex amongst certain sections
0:45:22 > 0:45:24of the Pakistani community,
0:45:24 > 0:45:28and I know some people will be very uneasy hearing that.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31But I think it's really important. I think a lot of the things
0:45:31 > 0:45:34that Ajmal Masroor talked about, really do ring true with me.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I've seen it and I've heard about it
0:45:37 > 0:45:40right at the heart of the Pakistani community.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44The British Pakistani population is made up
0:45:44 > 0:45:46of many different communities but the grooming cases
0:45:46 > 0:45:50that have come to light have been almost entirely in the North
0:45:50 > 0:45:52and Midlands of England.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56I'm wondering whether geography has influenced these crimes,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59not just where British Pakistanis live now,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02but where their families came from back home.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06I'm meeting former specialist sexual offences lawyer
0:46:06 > 0:46:08and Bolton MP, Yasmin Qureshi.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12There doesn't seem to be as many cases down south.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15It seems to be, mainly, a Northern thing and the Midlands.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19- That's the interesting factor here. - Well, it's because different...
0:46:19 > 0:46:23different groups of people came in the South and settled there.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26I used to live in London before and worked there.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29And you can see that generally there's more integration
0:46:29 > 0:46:31between communities.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33You very rarely find a school which will have
0:46:33 > 0:46:37just say 80% of one nationality. It will be a mixed group of people.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40And also a lot of the people who came and settled in the South
0:46:40 > 0:46:43were people who came from educated background
0:46:43 > 0:46:46or sort of, you know, much more literate background -
0:46:46 > 0:46:49people who knew or the parents who knew about some of the dangers
0:46:49 > 0:46:51their children are subjected to.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53Because, up here in the north, a lot of the families
0:46:53 > 0:46:57and a lot of the fathers, they came here to work in the mills.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Are you suggesting that they weren't as educated as the city dwellers?
0:47:00 > 0:47:05- I don't want anyone to think that if you don't have education it means... - This is going to happen.
0:47:05 > 0:47:06..this is going to happen.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But there is that element you can't take away from the fact that,
0:47:10 > 0:47:15a lot of the people have come from either Kashmir or from Pakistan.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18And it is true that some of the communities are still
0:47:18 > 0:47:22culturally very traditional in the sense that...
0:47:22 > 0:47:25And when you say Kashmiri,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29we mean a very rural, village part of Pakistan and perhaps
0:47:29 > 0:47:33in large part the most undeveloped part of Pakistan and India.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35And there's a big, big migration from Kashmir,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39in the northern parts as well.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42But there's a very tiny, tiny - and we really have to put this
0:47:42 > 0:47:46in perspective very tiny handful of young men who have deviated
0:47:46 > 0:47:51this way but I think it's happening in the rest of society as well.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54I found what Yasmin Quereshi had to say really interesting,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57particularly these issues of family background and cultural factors
0:47:57 > 0:48:00but as much as they're a part of Pakistani community,
0:48:00 > 0:48:05we mustn't forget that these groomers are also part of British society.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Pakistani and Bangladeshi Britons are almost three times as likely
0:48:14 > 0:48:17to be poor as the rest of the population
0:48:17 > 0:48:20but you can't blame these crimes on poverty alone.
0:48:20 > 0:48:25Society as a whole needs to find an answer to this but only a fraction
0:48:25 > 0:48:29of the men responsible have ever been brought to justice.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34In 2009, Barnardo's found that almost 3,000 children were believed
0:48:34 > 0:48:37to have been victims of sexual exploitation
0:48:37 > 0:48:40but there were just 89 convictions.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46I'm on my way back to see Emma,
0:48:46 > 0:48:49who endured three years of abuse after being groomed
0:48:49 > 0:48:51at the age of 12.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54I'm meeting her dad too, to discover how the family dealt
0:48:54 > 0:48:56with the aftermath of sexual exploitation.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58She'd said that she was being raped
0:48:58 > 0:49:02and you automatically think that somebody's grabbed her from behind
0:49:02 > 0:49:04and sexually assaulted and raped her.
0:49:04 > 0:49:10But then it was that she was being raped on a regular basis,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13by this gang and you just can't imagine as a father
0:49:13 > 0:49:14what that feels like.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18Still now, we don't know everything that Emma went through.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22And what we do know, is quite horrendous.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24You wouldn't put a dog through that.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Just take us through what happened, once Emma had confessed
0:49:27 > 0:49:29and told you what happened.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32We got no protection whatsoever from the police
0:49:32 > 0:49:34and this is organised crime
0:49:34 > 0:49:37so we were dealing with individuals who are quite dangerous.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- So we dropped charges. - We dropped the charges.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43They also lost all the evidence so I'd saved clothes that
0:49:43 > 0:49:46I'd been sexually assaulted in and they had lost all of them.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48- They lost the evidence?- Yes.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50They just brought him in for questioning
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and he just said, "No comment," all the way through
0:49:53 > 0:49:56and made a statement through his solicitor and that was it.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00It's worse than what happened to a degree and that may sound silly
0:50:00 > 0:50:04but you're expecting these people to actually know what they're doing
0:50:04 > 0:50:08and protect your child and that didn't happen.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11The police who dealt with Emma insist that they conducted
0:50:11 > 0:50:15a thorough investigation before she dropped charges
0:50:15 > 0:50:19and that she was paid £140 for the loss of her clothes.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26The authorities seem to be waking up to this problem
0:50:26 > 0:50:28but only this year, a Government report
0:50:28 > 0:50:31found that less than a quarter of the local bodies
0:50:31 > 0:50:34tasked with looking after vulnerable children
0:50:34 > 0:50:36had a plan to deal with sexual exploitation.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39It seems to me that unless more local authorities
0:50:39 > 0:50:43and police forces tackle this appalling crime head on,
0:50:43 > 0:50:48the men responsible will carry on, thinking they can get away with it.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56I've come back to Derby, one last time.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01Police here were successful in their investigation and prosecution
0:51:01 > 0:51:04of Operation Retriever and I want to find out why.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Today their child exploitation investigation unit are serving
0:51:09 > 0:51:12an abduction notice, a warning to a man whose relationship
0:51:12 > 0:51:15with a 14-year-old is thought to be inappropriate.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18It's a very good tool. It makes sure that the suspect is well aware
0:51:18 > 0:51:21of how old the child is.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25It will either prevent him from further contact with that child
0:51:25 > 0:51:27or help support a prosecution.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Although the man being served with the notice
0:51:32 > 0:51:35doesn't want to be filmed, I'm allowed to sit in.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39If you do not co-operate with this request and this young person
0:51:39 > 0:51:41is traced to your home or is found in your presence,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44then you are liable to arrest and prosecution
0:51:44 > 0:51:47under section 2 of the Child Abduction Act 1984,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51which carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53Thanks for your time.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01The police are showing the guy out now and he's an Indian Sikh guy,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05from Derby and his side of the story is that he didn't think
0:52:05 > 0:52:08this girl was 14, this girl that he claims he's only seen once
0:52:08 > 0:52:10and went round to her house for drinks.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13He said that she said she was 17 or 18.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16And then when he texted her saying, "I didn't think you were 14 -
0:52:16 > 0:52:19"again she repeated that and claimed that her dad
0:52:19 > 0:52:22"was all right with it anyway."
0:52:22 > 0:52:26That's the problem with sexual exploitation cases.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30They're often based on he said, she said - the word of a teenage girl
0:52:30 > 0:52:33against an adult man.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38And that's why the CCTV and other forensic evidence,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41gathered in the Operation Retriever case were so important.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45It took the burden of proof away from vulnerable victims.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49I think that if more police forces adopted preventative techniques
0:52:49 > 0:52:53like Derbyshire, there needn't be victims in the first place.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00And it's not just the authorities changing their tactics.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04British Pakistanis have an important role to play in preventing
0:53:04 > 0:53:07these crimes too and there's signs that they're starting to take on
0:53:07 > 0:53:09this responsibility.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12In Manchester, I'm off to Friday prayers.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14I am quite looking forward to hearing the sermon today
0:53:14 > 0:53:18because this Imam is known to be quite outspoken.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23These are very heinous, very serious crimes.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Let us make sure that we are talking to our children.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31If we don't tell them, talk about the birds and the bees as they say,
0:53:31 > 0:53:32then the playground will.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36And they won't do it in the context of morality, of family life,
0:53:36 > 0:53:39they will do it from the point of view of gratification.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44I'm impressed by what Imam Asad Zaman has said today.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49Talking about sex in a sermon is practically unheard of.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53I've been meeting up with and speaking to quite a few people
0:53:53 > 0:53:56about this over the last few months and only now do I see
0:53:56 > 0:54:00a more openness from people to want to talk about grooming.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04I really hope that it's a sign that the community is ready
0:54:04 > 0:54:06to have a more honest and open debate
0:54:06 > 0:54:08about this really hideous crime.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16Thousands of childhoods have been stolen by sexual exploitation.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Every single one of those victims has to find a way
0:54:19 > 0:54:21to put their lives back together again -
0:54:21 > 0:54:23just like Emma Jackson.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26She's managed to build a new life after the horrific abuse
0:54:26 > 0:54:28she suffered, even though the men responsible
0:54:28 > 0:54:30were never brought to justice.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32This is my room.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35OK, so this isn't the house that you grew up in then.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39No, this is a completely different house in a different area.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41Emma has written a book about her experiences
0:54:41 > 0:54:45and has a job helping other victims of sexual exploitation.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48How do you feel when you look back and think about that little girl
0:54:48 > 0:54:51that got involved with Tarik and all these guys?
0:54:51 > 0:54:56I think the worst thing about it is them years that I'll never get back.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58I'll never ever go to me school prom,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02I'll never ever be able to get them years back where I'd get excited
0:55:02 > 0:55:05about taking my A-levels and going to university.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07And what about your attitude to Asian men?
0:55:07 > 0:55:11How do you feel now, sat here, on your bed with a Pakistani guy?
0:55:11 > 0:55:15Fine. You know, most of my friends
0:55:15 > 0:55:18are Asian, my boyfriend is.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21So your boyfriend now - is he Pakistani?
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Yeah, so I've got no issues.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26It's not a thing about them being Pakistani.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30I think we seem to use that a lot because it draws attention away
0:55:30 > 0:55:33from what it actually is and we're talking about kids being abused.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36And this is a handful of people that are in community
0:55:36 > 0:55:38and that's all it is.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Emma's words sum the situation up better than I ever could.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52On-street grooming is not a problem in the whole Pakistani population.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54It's a problem we must all tackle head on.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58Talk must become action.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01The British Pakistani community have to speak out about this,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04to separate themselves the law-abiding community -
0:56:04 > 0:56:06from the criminal fraternity.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Because if they don't, it'll appear as if they are not willing
0:56:09 > 0:56:12to accept this is going on right on their doorstep.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20And if you bear in mind sexual exploitation can affect each
0:56:20 > 0:56:23and every one of us, it's down to us all to find a solution.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28And that's the most important thing,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32so that we can make sure there are no more victims like Emma.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34# I fly like pepper, get high like planes
0:56:34 > 0:56:37# If you catch me at the border, I've got visas in my name
0:56:37 > 0:56:40# If you come around, hey, I'll make them all day
0:56:40 > 0:56:43# I'll get one done in a second if you wait
0:56:43 > 0:56:46# I fly like pepper, get high like planes
0:56:46 > 0:56:49# If you catch me at the border, I've got visas in my name
0:56:49 > 0:56:52# If you come around, hey, I'll make them all day
0:56:52 > 0:56:54# I'll get one done in a second if you wait... #
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0:56:57 > 0:57:00E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk