North Wales Police have written to Janet Finch-Saunders, Member for of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, stating “Grooming gang is not something we can search our system for. We have provided those with multiple suspects linked”.
The written correspondence came in response to a Freedom of Information Request by Mrs Finch-Saunders, asking how many child sexual assaults were linked to a grooming gang in the last three financial years: 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25.
The number of child sexual assaults with multiple suspects linked was 39. This involved 89 suspects.
There is a petition in the Welsh Parliament calling on the Welsh Government to commission a Wales-wide inquiry into sexual exploitation by grooming gangs. In addition to supporting that call, Mrs Finch-Saunders believes that North Wales Police, and all other forces in Wales, should be keeping a record of grooming gangs.
Commenting, Janet said:
“The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes.
“The audit by Baroness Casey found continued failure to gather proper robust national data. For me this includes the fact that North Wales Police does not keep a record of grooming gangs on their system.
“Whilst I am in correspondence with North Wales Police about steps they are taking to try and reduce the incidence of child sexual assault, there needs to be national leadership from the UK Government on the categorisation of such horrific crimes.
“Where grooming gangs have been found, they should be on any police force’s record”.
ENDS
