Grooming inquiry is a ‘legal mess’ and will make Keir Starmer look 'silly', top abuse lawyer warns

Former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper committed to five local inquiries back in January.

However, nine months have passed without any being launched.

In June, after Baroness Louise Casey returned her audit and recommended a national inquiry, the prime minister confirmed he would launch one.

However, the national inquiry has yet to select a chair and the terms of reference are still being deliberated.

Mr Greenwood said: “The best way would be to have started in January, with Yvette Cooper’s announcement, to start with five local reviews and send in independent assessors.

"They could have told police, social services, and health authorities ‘we expect you to cooperate.’

“Those inquiries would have been up and running by now and they could have returned evidence to a central inquiry, which then could have sifted through it and decided which elements to bring out into an open public inquiry.”

Instead, Mr Greenwood warned that it seemed like the Government had done this process in reverse.

“A statutory inquiry has to have a chair which takes live evidence," he said.

"If that’s going to happen, there has got to be a lot of work done in the background to assess what evidence is available and what is the most relevant information.

“The time taking evidence in public inquiries is always the costliest due to the numerous lawyers required each day.

"To make sure it works efficiently an inquiry needs to be properly prepared.

“If that’s going to be done, then it’ll take five years at least to track all that evidence down and get these people in one by one.”

Mr Greenwood, who has secured compensation for hundreds of survivors affected by the national grooming gangs scandal, warned that this was an “unacceptably long time” for the survivors.

The solicitor said that the inquiry is going to be bound up in legalities and evidence-taking processes when it should already have some information being returned via the local inquiries that it promised in January.

These delays could see the inquiry launching far too late to return in a timeframe that would meet the approval of the survivors.

“And it will make it worse for the Government. Keir Starmer is going to look silly," Mr Greenwood added.

Mr Greenwood also criticised the Home Office for the mechanism used to select a chair and terms of reference. He told GB News that it was unfair to put pressure on survivors to make these decisions.

The solicitor, who made his remarks to GB News four months after the inquiry was announced, issued another warning: “Public opinion is irresistible on this issue. The Government has got to follow it, otherwise there’ll be a ramping up of fervour and disquiet.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The abuse of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable.

“We will do everything in our power to ensure these crimes never happen again.

“That is why we have launched a statutory inquiry – equipped with the powers and resources required to get to the truth and deliver justice for the survivors.”