A police force is investigating more than 1,000 individuals suspected of participating in child exploitation networks, according to a watchdog assessment.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is pursuing 1,099 suspects across multiple ongoing cases, with His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services revealing in a report that 714 victims and survivors have been identified in these live investigations.
The 76-page report examined how the force handles group-based child sexual exploitation cases.
The watchdog found that GMP maintains 59 active multi-victim, multi-offender investigations.
Greater Manchester Police is currently pursuing 1,099 suspects
GB News
Of these, 13 are being managed by the force's specialist Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team.
GMP created a specialist unit in 2021 dedicated to tackling exploitation rings, becoming the only police service in the country to establish such a team.
The Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team comprises approximately 100 personnel with protected funding.
The report said: "The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past. It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation."
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Michelle Skeer, His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, said: "We found that since 2019, when Greater Manchester Police started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation."
The watchdog's assessment acknowledged that GMP "fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past" and has implemented measures to address historical shortcomings.
The force's specialist unit and earlier investigations have resulted in 42 criminal convictions, with offenders receiving combined sentences exceeding 430 years.
Skeer noted that whilst the force has attempted to improve services for exploitation victims over many years, "for some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences".
The force acknowledged that trust will have been lost with the public
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Skeer said: "It is vital that improvements are led by victims' experiences, and if they do come forward, they are supported, protected and taken seriously."
The force has developed new intelligence systems to track demographic data, including age, sex and ethnicity of victims and suspects.
These "intelligence products" create detailed threat profiles to identify emerging risks.
However, the report highlighted significant obstacles in obtaining information from local authorities.
Manchester City Council's intelligence took months to provide and "was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words," causing substantial investigation delays.
The report stated: "Officers told us that, due to a cultural shift in Greater Manchester Police, investigating child sexual exploitation is now considered 'everyone's business'."
Grooming gangs also "feature heavily" in chief officer meetings, with performance monitored closely, the report said.
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