The first eight closed grooming gang cases have been returned to police forces for fresh investigations as part of a nationwide review examining hundreds of files for potentially missed lines of inquiry.
Operation Beaconport, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), is reviewing cases from January 2010 to March 2025 involving two or more suspects accused of sexual abuse and multiple victims, where no further action was taken. The review is limited to cases with living suspects that have not already undergone reassessment.
By November, 1,273 investigations from 23 police forces had been referred to the operation, with 236 prioritised because they included allegations of rape. At that stage, reviewers believed that potential lines of inquiry in some cases had been missed due to human error.
NCA deputy director Nigel Leary said initial reviews suggest mistakes in some investigations. “We’ve seen in those cases what appears to be potentially human error,” he said. “That includes lines of inquiry being identified but not being followed, victim accounts not being taken in best practice, and suspects not being pursued or interviewed as we would anticipate.”
NCA director general Graeme Biggar said: “Operation Beaconport is the most comprehensive and complex investigation into child sexual exploitation and abuse in UK history. After months of careful joint work, we have sent the first cases back to forces to be reopened. This is the first step toward seeking justice for victims and survivors.”
