Britain's grooming gangs scandal, explained

Government makes an about-turn on a national inquiry into child sexual abuse carried out by gangs

Keir Starmer talks to a group of police officers
Keir Starmer has accepted Louise Casey's recommendations to hold a national inquiry overseen by an Independent Commission
(Image credit: Carl Court / Getty Images)

The government has announced a full independent statutory inquiry into grooming gangs after Louise Casey completed an audit of what she called "one of the most horrendous crimes in our society".

The crossbench peer was asked in January to produce a rapid audit of child sexual abuse carried out by gangs in England and Wales, taking into account the issue of the ethnicity of offenders.

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