GMP chief constable Ian Hopkins denies attempt to prevent publication of damning report into failed child sexual exploitation investigation

GMP's communications team has issued a press statement from Mr Ian Hopkins denying that this was the case.

City mayor Andy Burnham's office this week made public a review into Operation Augusta which investigated claims of exploitation of girls in the care of social services 15 years ago.

This followed the death in 2003 of 15-year-old Victoria Agoglia from an overdose of heroin by a 50-year-old man "for favours".

Detective Maggie Oliver was part of Operation Augusta, but has turned whistleblower to tell of how the investigation was closed down in 2005 with none of the perpetrators brought to justice, even though evidence was available and offences were being committed "in plain sight of the authorities".

Ms Oliver was speaking at the press conference on Tuesday, which published the findings of child protection specialist Malcolm Newsam and former senior police officer Gary Ridgway, flanked by Mr Burnham and deputy mayor for policing, crime and chair of the child sexual exploitation steering group, Bev Hughes.

Significantly, the mayor's inquiry has been broadened to cover more recent accusations of historic child sex exploitation of children, many of whom were in social services care, in Oldham.

Ms Oliver said she had been "blown away" by the integrity, honesty and commitment of Mr Newsam, Mr Ridgway and the mayor and his deputy in "fighting" to have the review published.

She told the press conference packed with TV cameras and national media: "I'm sure it will be no surprise to you to learn that GMP, even after all this time, have spent the past year trying to prevent this review being published and again are trying to bury truth."

And she went on: "For 15 years, the perpetrators that we knew on Operation Augusta were abusing generations of children were allowed to walk free.

"The children were cast to the wind, left to their own devices. Nobody cared about them. I'm talking about people at the top of the police, social services - the people who knew the facts but who chose to bury the truth.

"That in my opinion is unforgivable. They swore the same oath of attestation as I did (when they became police officers).

"Every chief constable promises to act with integrity, uphold the law, to tell the truth. All those principles went out of the window. And the question that I would raise is: why are those people not facing charges of misconduct in a public office? Where is the accountability? They should be put in front of a court of law, in the same way that I would be if I had failed to to investigate crimes."

Ms Oliver, who has set up the Maggie Oliver Foundation to help victims of abuse, indicated the the problem of child sexual exploitation had not gone away.

She said: "How strange it is that GMP have chosen to hold their own press conference where they will try to tell everyone what a great job they are now doing, how things have changed, how kids are no longer failed.

"Well I can tell you that the messages I receive every day on my emails, Twitter and Instagram, will tell a very different story. There are still desperate people out there who don't know where to turn. We need to continue with this path to change. This is just the start of it, it is not the end. This is about accountability."

However, in the statement from Mr Hopkins, who was not chief constable at the time of Operation Augusta, said: "I want to be clear in affirming my commitment to doing all we can to ensure that these victims receive the justice today that they were denied 15 years ago.

"This is an absolute priority for Greater Manchester Police and we are determined to pursue every line of enquiry available to us in order to prosecute those responsible for these crimes.

"We have referred Greater Manchester Police’s role in Operation Augusta to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to make their own assessment as to whether there are any criminal or misconduct matters by police officers which need to be investigated.

"I am personally disgusted by the awful abuse that these children suffered. That is why I immediately commissioned a police review of Operation Augusta as soon as I was made aware of the early findings of the Independent Assurance Review.

"There have been claims that Greater Manchester Police has tried to stop the review of Operation Augusta being published. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Contrary to these reports, we have cooperated fully with the review team and acted with transparency and integrity throughout. At no time has there been any effort from us to prevent the publication of the report and any suggestion that states otherwise is categorically untrue.

On January 15, 2018 I attended a meeting with deputy mayor Beverley Hughes and Malcolm Newsam, one of the independent reviewers, along with legal representatives.

"At this meeting I personally cut through the issues around sharing victims data with Malcolm Newsam to ensure there was no delay to the start of the review. As a result of the actions at this meeting, I signed on behalf of GMP the data sharing agreement.

"By doing this, I set the standard and led the way for other agencies to support the review, which was acknowledged by the deputy mayor during yesterday’s press conference. Manchester City Council followed later in 2018 and Rochdale Borough Council in 2020."

He said that on April 12, 2018, following the police review, the chief executive of Manchester City Council and Mr Hopkins agreed independently of the mayor’s review to set up a multi-agency review led by the director of children’s services and an assistant chief constable.

"The purpose of this review was to assess any risks that may exist from potential offenders from Operation Augusta, and importantly to assess what we may need to do to support any of the victims we knew about at that time," he said.

On May 10, 2018, Operation Green Jacket was set up as a result of that review and the initial indication from the Independent Assurance Review that there were concerns in relation to the original Operation Augusta investigation.

Mr Hopkins continued: "Operation Green Jacket has developed further as a result of Greater Manchester Police and Manchester City Council meticulously reviewing historic files and speaking to victims and perpetrators.

"This work has uncovered additional historic information and victims that were not previously seen by the original operation in 2004/05. This is why the scope of the Green Jacket investigation has grown from the original 25 victims reviewed by the GMCA review team, to the current 53 victims we are now working with.

"I would like to once again apologise on behalf of Greater Manchester Police to all those victims who were let down in 2004 by police not thoroughly investigating the offences that had been committed against them.

"Understandably, many of them have been left upset by the findings of the report and to hear the full extent of the failings by authorities to protect them from harm as children. Our multi-agency Operation Green Jacket team are doing all that they can to provide them with appropriate support from specialist agencies at this difficult time.

"Although this report makes for difficult reading and will understandably raise concern, I want to assure members of the public that the attitude towards investigating this type of crime has completely changed since Operation Augusta was concluded almost 15 years ago.

"Our multi-agency approach places the victim at the heart of everything that we do and ensures that proper support is provided by the right agencies and any safeguarding concerns are addressed.

"With this support from partners, it provides a stronger footing for police to effectively prevent, disrupt and investigate these crimes.

"In the last 12 months, Greater Manchester Police has seen 58 offenders convicted of child sexual exploitation related offences and receive sentences totalling more than 170 years imprisonment."