A suspect in a horrific child gang-rape case, who evaded justice due to a catalogue of police failings, later attempted to murder his wife, a Guardian investigation has uncovered.
A Trail of Missed Opportunities and Destroyed Evidence
The man, identified in official documents only as Offender J, is alleged to have participated in the gang-rape of 12-year-old Samantha Walker-Roberts in Oldham in 2006. The ringleader, Shakil Chowdhury, who was jailed for six years in 2007, named Offender J as an accomplice. However, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) failed to act on this information and closed the case.
In a devastating blow to the investigation, dozens of items of forensic evidence were either destroyed by officers or returned to Chowdhury. In 2007, 22 items, including bedding and a towel from Chowdhury's home where the abuse occurred, were given back to him via his solicitor. The following year, in 2008, police destroyed a further 24 items, including material from his car and the contents of his bin.
Samantha Walker-Roberts was kidnapped from a police station where she had tried to report an earlier assault and was trafficked around Oldham to be abused by multiple men. She has stated she was raped for hours by five men at Chowdhury's property.
Consequences of Inaction: A Wife Attacked and Justice Denied
In 2009, Offender J tried to kill his wife. An internal police inquiry later concluded in 2014 that this attack might have been prevented if forensic inquiries into Walker-Roberts's case had been properly conducted.
Furthermore, in 2011, Offender J's wife told police he had confessed to raping a 12-year-old and kept newspaper clippings about Chowdhury's conviction. This critical information was passed to Operation Messenger, a since-disbanded taskforce tackling child sexual exploitation in Oldham, but was not acted upon—a failure later described as "serious" by a safeguarding review.
Due to the destruction of evidence, it is now understood that Offender J is unlikely to ever face charges for his alleged role in Walker-Roberts's ordeal. Chowdhury remains the only person convicted. Police are still pursuing two other suspects: Sarwar Ali, who absconded after being charged, and a third man forensically linked to the case but unidentified.
National Inquiry Launched Amidst Controversy
The failings in Oldham contributed to the establishment of a national inquiry into grooming gangs, set to be chaired by former children's commissioner Anne Longfield from March. The inquiry, which will examine abuse in England and Wales, was announced after an audit by troubleshooter Louise Casey suggested a nationwide investigation was necessary.
The inquiry has faced controversy, with four women quitting its survivor advisory panel in October, accusing the government of manipulating them. However, Walker-Roberts and four others wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to express support for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
A spokesperson for GMP said Walker-Roberts had "suffered horrific abuse which was compounded by appalling failures" and that she received an apology in 2022. They added that the force is determined to bring the two outstanding suspects to court.
Walker-Roberts said: "All my life, I've been told I need to move on but how can I, when I don't have the answers?... I'm praying that others will come forward, I want others to get justice in one form or another."
