The Derby child sex abuse ring was a horrific case of systematic grooming and sexual exploitation that came to light in 2010. A group of men, primarily from the British Pakistani community, were found to have sexually abused up to a hundred vulnerable girls in Derby, England. Following an extensive undercover police operation, members of the ring were charged with 75 offences relating to 26 girls. Ultimately, nine out of thirteen accused men were convicted for crimes including grooming and raping girls aged between 12 and 18. The case ignited a fierce and ongoing national debate about race, community, and the sexual exploitation of children.
The ring was led by Abid Mohammed Saddique and Mohammed Romaan Liaqat, both married men with young children. They operated by cruising the streets of Derby, specifically targeting young and vulnerable girls. CCTV evidence later showed the gang leaders persistently trying to entice girls into their cars, which were stocked with alcohol. The victims were predominantly from troubled backgrounds, some in care and known to social services. The men’s grooming process was methodical: they would first befriend the girls, offering them drinks, drugs, and rides. This would escalate to invitations to parties and further meetings, where the girls were then driven to secluded areas, parks, hotels, or even their own homes to be sexually abused and raped. The assaults were often violent and involved multiple perpetrators, with some victims threatened with hammers or locked up to prevent escape. The abuse was frequently filmed on mobile phones.
The police investigation, dubbed Operation Retriever, began in earnest after a chance stop by Staffordshire police in December 2008. Officers found three gang members with three missing girls from a Derby care home. During the journey back, the girls revealed the abuse they were suffering. Derbyshire police then launched a sophisticated surveillance operation, tailing the gang’s vehicles and gathering DNA evidence. The scale of the abuse became fully apparent in April 2009 when two distressed teenagers emerged from a flat under surveillance and reported being raped. Detective Inspector Shaun Dawson admitted that upon the initial arrests, police had “no idea of the scale of this.” The investigation snowballed as more victims came forward.
The subsequent trials at Leicester Crown Court saw the ringleaders receive lengthy prison sentences. Abid Mohammed Saddique was jailed for a minimum of 11 years, and Mohammed Romaan Liaqat for at least 8 years. Other gang members were convicted on charges including rape, sexual activity with a child, and making indecent images.
The Derby case occurred amidst other high-profile grooming gang scandals in towns like Rotherham and Rochdale, where the perpetrators were also predominantly British Pakistani men. This prompted intense analysis and debate about the role of the perpetrators’ ethnicity. While the judge in the Derby case ruled that the race of the victims and abusers was “coincidental,” figures like former Home Secretary Jack Straw argued there was a “specific problem” of some Pakistani men targeting “vulnerable white girls.” Others, including Keith Vaz MP, warned against stereotyping an entire community. This debate was further fueled by subsequent government and independent reports. A 2020 Home Office report concluded that most group-based child sexual offenders are white, but acknowledged poor data quality. However, a 2025 audit by Baroness Casey criticized this conclusion, pointing to local data from several police forces showing a disproportionate number of Asian men involved in such gangs and calling for a full national inquiry, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer has since announced. The Derby case remains a stark and painful example of systemic child exploitation and the complex societal issues it raises.
