Baroness Casey condemns ‘appalling’ abuse of power by high-profile figures

Baroness Louise Casey, who led an audit into grooming gangs, has branded abuses of power by high-profile figures to assault young people as “frankly appalling”.

The 61-year-old also said she is glad a temporary restriction imposed on reporting the identity of the author and TV personality David Walliams has been lifted.

Walliams, 55, who was named this week as part of an investigation by journalists involving accusations of grooming teenage girls as young as 15 and abusing his position to pursue women, has denied any wrongdoing.

David Walliams was named this week as part of an investigation by journalists involving accusations of grooming teenage girls as young as 15 (Ian West/PA)

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Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Baroness Casey said: “We don’t prioritise and we don’t think about how we protect young people.

“That’s partly about young people being young adults. I mean, I realise all of that gets more complicated as they get older, but come on.

“What has happened this week, particularly the rape (conviction of) Russell Brand, the abuse of power, the abuse of his media position, the people abusing power day in, day out to groom and then rape and sexually assault largely girls and young children, is frankly appalling.”

She added: “I think that there are people throughout the country that use things like injunctions not to face the law, and we have to make sure that those things are changed.

“I’m glad that that’s happened, and I’m extremely pleased that Russell Brand is inside for 10 years.”

Comedian Brand was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years behind bars this week for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others during his rise to international fame.

Russell Brand is now behind bars for rape and sexual assault (James Manning/PA)

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When asked whether she thinks the law is strong enough to protect young people who might be being groomed, Baroness Casey said: “We have not got our attitude towards children and the protection of children right.”

Baroness Casey led an investigation into Rotherham Council after a separate report found more than 1,400 children were sexually exploited by gangs of mainly Asian males in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013.

Her report, published in 2015, found widespread failings across the council’s culture and services.

The Government announced a national audit by Baroness Casey last year, which found the lack of data showing the ethnicity and nationality of sex offenders in grooming gangs was “a major failing over the last decade or more” and listed 12 recommendations, including for a national inquiry.

The grooming gangs inquiry was set up in response to the recommendation from Baroness Casey’s National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

Baroness Casey added: “I am impatient for change, and I don’t think the momentum has been good enough.”

Maggie Oliver, the former police detective turned whistle-blower over grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, who now runs the charity, The Maggie Oliver Foundation, said: “Baroness Casey is absolutely right, and I share her anger and frustration. But frankly, I would go even further.

“This is not simply a lack of momentum. It is a shameful and continuing failure by successive governments to fulfil their most fundamental duty: to protect our children.

“And this very week, The Maggie Oliver Foundation is in the High Court, fighting tooth and nail in a landmark Judicial Review against the Government over its failure to implement the 20 recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

“And what is the Government’s response?

“It continues to argue in court that it has no legal obligation to implement any of those recommendations.

“Even more shockingly, it maintains that there is “no detriment” to children from their non-implementation.

“Baroness Casey is frustrated that recommendations from her 2025 audit have not been implemented quickly enough.

“We are fighting precisely the same battle over recommendations made years earlier.

“We are in court – this week, fighting this Government tooth and nail, because we refuse to accept that protecting children is optional, or that public inquiries can simply become expensive exercises in political damage limitation.”