Rochdale grooming timeline: How dozens of vulnerable girls were left ‘at the mercy’ of criminal gangs

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Girls were “left at the mercy” of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale because of failings by senior police and council bosses, with countless warnings ignored and dismissed, a report found this week. Former detective Maggie Oliver resigned from GMP and became a whistleblower Another police investigation into two takeaway shops in Rochdale, involving 30 adult male suspects, was also aborted prematurely because police bosses failed to resource it and the Crown Prosecution Service deemed the main child victim an unreliable witness. “Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.” Here is a timeline outlining how the Rochdale grooming scandal broke headlines across the UK, and why its repercussions are still being felt a decade later: 2004 Child sexual exploitation and grooming are recognised to have begun in the Rochdale area, with mainly white girls from poor backgrounds targeted. Ms Oliver, who now runs a charity supporting adult survivors of child abuse, has now been praised alongside whistleblower Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of the Crisis Intervention Team, as being “lone voices” in the damning report, which said young girls were “left at the mercy” of paedophile grooming gangs for years.