Grooming gang investigations were dropped over ‘human error’

A massive review of cases involving alleged sexual abuse gangs has found that potential human error led to some investigations being dropped.

Thousands of cases are set to be reviewed as part of Operation Beaconport, a national project to unearth failures to tackle grooming gangs.

So far 1,273 files from 23 police forces have been referred to the National Crime Agency-led review, of which 236 are being examined as a priority because they involve allegations of rape.

Now, NCA deputy director Nigel Leary said initial reviews suggest there were mistakes in some of the investigations.

‘Initial reviews have identified that in some cases where there has been a decision to take no further action (NFA), there were available lines of inquiry that could have been pursued,’ he explained. ‘We’ve s