Greater Manchester Police has acknowledged potential safeguarding failures after a child was reportedly seen visiting the home of convicted paedophile Todros Grynhaus. Officers responded to a call on October 11, 2024, in Heywood, Rochdale, regarding concerns that Grynhaus may have breached his licence conditions during a Jewish festival gathering. While no breach was confirmed, a subsequent investigation found two officers failed to properly establish the identities of a child and an adult present.
Report highlights missed opportunities
A complaints report, reviewed by the Manchester Evening News, examined seven complaints from Yehudis Fletcher, who was sexually abused by Grynhaus at age 15. The report concluded that the service provided was “not adequate.” Officers accepted key information “at face value,” including the claim that a boy was with his father, despite the man only providing the child’s date of birth in the Hebrew calendar. The man could only say he lived in “Salford” and could not recall the boy’s school. Grynhaus showed his licence conditions and said he believed contact with a child was permitted if a parent was present.
The investigator stated: “The attending officers did not obtain the minimum required details for the child and adult male. A significant opportunity was missed to corroborate the half-complete identities provided to officers by the adult male. This was significant.” The father-son relationship was “not verified to any meaningful degree of certainty and may have represented a significant failure in safeguarding a child and identifying a breach.”
Background on Grynhaus
Grynhaus, once a respected businessman in Salford’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, was jailed for 13 years and two months in 2015 for sexual offences against two girls between 1996 and 2004. Sentencing judge Mr Justice Holroyde noted a “significant risk” of reoffending. Released in 2022, Grynhaus is subject to strict licence conditions until 2030, including an exclusion zone, and is managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Level 3.
Fletcher told the MEN: “There’s a sense of absolute horror that a man who has an interest in pubescent teens… has had a 13-year-old boy in his house. The idea that he could – even if his father was present – makes me sick.”
Police response and neighbour concerns
A GMP spokesperson said the officers would be given “opportunity to reflect and learn,” but added that the failing was “not identified as organisational learning” and stemmed from a lack of “professional curiosity.” The force rejected Fletcher’s six other complaints, including those about finances and discrimination. Neighbours on Grynhaus’s estate have repeatedly raised concerns, with one saying the boy left in a different car than he arrived. Another neighbour claimed Grynhaus would stand at the window to “goad the children.”
Fletcher said she would raise concerns with the probation service. “I don’t have faith in the police to protect the community from people like him,” she said. “I feel – upset is not the right word – almost resigned to the fact that we have to put up with this.”
Wider issues and MP involvement
Local MP Elsie Blundell criticized the placement of Grynhaus opposite a playground, which was missed due to digital mapping errors. She called for a different location. In 2024, an Airbnb property next door to Grynhaus, linked to a company he previously directed, was advertised as suitable for “family get togethers.” Airbnb and Booking.com removed the listing after MEN inquiries. Manchester City Council also housed a vulnerable tenant in a property linked to Grynhaus, but said it had “no knowledge” of his convictions.
Blundell told the MEN: “I have always opposed this individual's placement… I'm extremely disappointed that GMP officers lacked the professional curiosity to obtain all the details necessary to ensure the wellbeing of a child in October 2024.”
Fletcher concluded: “People talk about two-tier policing. Actually who suffers from two tier policing? The minority community that is being under-policed. The ones suffering are those who are subjected to harm within that community.”
