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  "path": "/news/grooming-gangs-london-teens-sex-sadiq-khan-capital-met-police",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-18T20:03:56.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Machete-wielding robbers raid seaside town's jewellers as police launch urgent investigation",
    "‘Dangerous’ prisoner escapes from prison just ONE WEEK after last going on run",
    "'They will have to KILL me!' Chagos leader refuses to leave after Keir Starmer surrenders territory",
    "_Sir Sadiq was asked on nine occasions if there were rape gangs operating_",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nTeenage girls in London are being lured into sex and grooming gangs despite Sir Sadiq Khan's initial rejection of such claims, it has been revealed.\n\nPupils as young as 14 have been reportedly raped by drug gangs that take sexual acts as \"payment\" in the capital.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSome of the girls and women were drawn into gangs solely for sex.\n\nDetective Sergeant John Knox, head of the Metropolitan Police's child exploitation team in the south London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark, said girls and young women were the \"lowest rung\" in gangs.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe added girls inside gangs \"cannot say no to sex\" and they \"have to do as they're told\".\n\nThe officer explained girls were not exploited \"predominantly and primarily for sex\", but \"for everything, within that is sex\".\n\nHe believes there are at least 60 children in his community being exploited in some way.\n\nSome could be as young as 13, but \"15 would be the upper limit\".\n\nA victim, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC she had been groomed by three men in London and was initially forced to deal drugs, but was then quickly forced into sex.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"I had no money, felt neglected and saw an opportunity to feel part of something so I made some bad connections and before long I was selling drugs on the streets... But that turned into having sex to keep people on side if we owed them, or (as an enticement for them to) buy drugs off me and the gang,\" she said.\n\nAnother victim recounted how she was \"getting passed around different men every night\" at the age of just 15.\n\nShe said: \"They just give us drink, give us drugs. Next thing I know, I'd just be in the bedroom with one of them. Then I'd come out. Could be another one. After that it could be another one. Sometimes it was only one. Sometimes it could be three. And then we'd just leave really,\" she said.\n\nShe claimed all the men were \"Asian\".\n\nA third victim said: \"It's happening in London, and those who don't believe it need to look again.\"\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Machete-wielding robbers raid seaside town's jewellers as police launch urgent investigation\n  * ‘Dangerous’ prisoner escapes from prison just ONE WEEK after last going on run\n  * 'They will have to KILL me!' Chagos leader refuses to leave after Keir Starmer surrenders territory\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nIn January 2025, _Sir Sadiq was asked on nine occasions if there were rape gangs operating_, either presently or historically, in London.\n\nHe insisted he was \"not clear\" what the question meant and, following clarification on the question with specific reference to the rape gangs in Rotherham and Bradford, the Labour mayor claimed he was \"none the wiser\".\n\nSir Sadiq also last year said there was no \"indication of (…) grooming gangs\" operating comparably to that of Rochdale or Rotherham in the capital.\n\n\"The Mayor has repeatedly said on record that there are grooming gangs in London,\" a spokesman for the Labour mayor has since said.\n\nConservative member of the London Assembly, Susan Hall, who put the question to the mayor last year, told The London Standard: \"It beggars belief that we are being told London is the only place in the country where there are no grooming gangs.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"It’s absolutely outrageous that Sadiq Khan fails to take this seriously.\"\n\nIn October of last year, Scotland Yard announced they would re-investigate 9,000 child sex abuse cases, informing the mayor alleged grooming gang and child exploitation cases from the past 15 years would make up the probe.\n\nThe review is part of Operation Beaconport, which is a national project to shed light on previous failures to combat group-based child sexual exploitation.\n\nA spokesman for the London Mayor said: \"Any individuals, groups or grooming gangs exploiting children for sex are utterly abhorrent and the Mayor wants justice for every single victim of these horrific crimes.\n\n\"Since taking office, the Mayor has led efforts to strengthen the protection of children from exploitation and harm in all its forms in London, including grooming gangs. Sadiq has driven forward long-overdue reforms in the way the Met protects children and delivered vital investment in specialist services to support child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, including a new £2.4m package of support for victims and survivors to ensure they have the care, attention and specialist support services they deserve.\n\n\"The Mayor is clear that the Met must follow the evidence wherever it leads and he will continue to ensure it does everything possible to tackle all child sexual exploitation in the capital, including grooming gangs, to build a safer London for everyone.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "London teens lured into sex despite Sadiq Khan rejecting 'indication of grooming gangs' in capital"
}