Chicago – June 23, 2026
In a direct and impassioned statement published on social media, Mr Lowe confirmed that the inquiry would examine “what happened, how it happened, and why it was allowed to happen” – calling the abuse of young girls across several UK towns and cities a “rotting stain on our country’s history.
The initiative will be funded via crowdsourcing, with a donations page now live online. Mr Lowe said he would personally contribute, and emphasised that “every penny spent will be transparently published.”
Several government reviews have reported failures by British institutions in preventing, identifying and prosecuting the widespread cases of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation that mostly occurred between the 1990s and 2010s.
Allegations of governmental and institutional failures to respond to the problem or to downplay or cover up the issue have been described as a grooming gangs scandal.
Media coverage and political discourse around these crimes has especially focused on the ethnic and religious background of perpetrators in high-profile cases, most of whom were Muslim men of Pakistani descent, and whether this prevented proper investigation.
Data in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire shows that, in the 2020s, men of an Asian ethnic background are disproportionately represented among perpetrators in those areas.
