The appointment of Tom Crowther KC to chair an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Oldham has been met with a mix of cautious optimism and lingering scepticism.
Announced earlier this week (12th March, 2025) by Oldham Council, this development marks a significant moment in the Borough’s long and contentious journey towards addressing allegations of grooming gangs and systemic failures in safeguarding vulnerable children.
For the past five years, Neil Wilby Media has closely charted the political currents in Oldham, scrutinising the presence—or absence—of grooming gangs, the on-line conspiracy theories around turning a blind eye for block votes at elections, the responses of local authorities, police and partner agencies, and the growing clamour for a public inquiry.
Crowther’s appointment, whilst a notable step forward, still raises critical questions about scope, accountability, and whether it truly meets the demands of survivors and the wider community.
A Respected Figure Takes the Helm
Tom Crowther KC undoubtedly brings a formidable reputation to Oldham. As the barrister who chaired the widely praised Telford Inquiry into CSE, which concluded in 2022, he oversaw an investigation that uncovered the exploitation of up to 1,000 girls over a period spanning decades in the Shropshire town.
The Telford report was widely lauded for its thoroughness, delivering over 40 recommendations—many of which have since been implemented—and setting a notable benchmark for local inquiries into historic abuse in its many forms.
Crowther’s track record has earned him the trust of survivors and advocates alike; a point underscored by Oldham Council’s statement: “Tom is hugely respected by survivors given the excellent work he did in Telford, and his appointment reflects the views of the survivors.”
His own words signal a commitment to replicating that success in Oldham: “I’m very pleased to have been asked to chair an independent inquiry into CSE for Oldham Council,” Crowther says. “I know from my work in Telford that an inquiry of this sort can bring the answers the community deserves about what has gone wrong in the past and can ensure best practice is in place for the future.”
He emphasised the importance of survivor confidence, pledging to involve them and the broader community in shaping the inquiry’s terms of reference and evidence-gathering mechanisms.
For a Borough scarred by years of allegations, political infighting, and public distrust, Crowther’s appointment offers a glimmer of hope. Yet, as Neil Wilby Media has documented over a brutal period spanning half a decade, often in the face of the most appalling and highly personalised abuse, the story of grooming gangs in Oldham is as much about perception, politics, power – and money – as it is about provable fact.
The burning question remains: Will this inquiry deliver the transparency and justice that residents and survivors have long sought, with those responsible being robustly held to account, or will it fall short of the mark?
Oldham’s Troubled Past
Oldham’s association with grooming gangs has been a polarising issue, fuelled by relentless conspiracy theories from Mossley-based grifter, Raja Miah, and his self-styled Rabble support group. Anecdotal accounts and high-profile cases, where evidence does exist, add to the complexity. Media amplification only deepens this intricate matrix.
More recently, repeated posts on X (formerly Twitter) by the social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk, in January 2025, which purposefully boosted far-right narratives, drew global attention to the Borough. Musk’s engagement, however, appears to stem from a limited understanding of Oldham’s history, demographics, and culture. As evidenced by his X posts, which lacked the nuance of local scrutiny.
By contrast, Neil Wilby Media’s reporting has consistently sought to separate fact from speculation and its owner, Neil Wilby, described by a number of influencers in the Region as a tenacious, boots-on-the-ground journalist, remains utterly confident that his public interest reporting will stand the test of time.
A 2022 Assurance Review examined CSE allegations in Oldham from 2011 to 2014. First commissioned by the Council in 2019, it was, soon afterwards, absorbed into the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s wider remit. Whilst the Review eventually concluded that Greater Manchester Police and the Council failed children, there was no evidence of a systemic cover-up of grooming gangs or ‘1,000s of white working class girls being raped’.
The Assurance Review co-existed with a GMP investigation codenamed Operation Hexagon, specifically set up to address the on-line allegations of Raja Miah and others of the same persuasion. It was supplanted after the review by Operation Sherwood, dedicated to investigating non-recent cases of child sex abuse (read more here).
Neil Wilby Media heavily criticised the 2022 report by Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway—not for its conclusions, but for its lack of rigour: It failed to fulfil its key term of reference: To follow the evidence wherever it led. Their Assurance Review can be read in full here.
Identified failings of the Review included stopping short of attributing fault or ‘cover-up’ to senior officials. It also seems restrained regarding specific criticisms around the roles of shisha bars, residential homes, and, particularly, local taxi drivers, despite evidence indicating at least some serious safeguarding concerns in those areas. and, whilst organisational failures are acknowledged, they are often described in collective or systemic terms rather than identifying specific officials who failed to act on evidence before them.
This diluted approach seems at odds with the Review’s explicit remit to hold institutions clearly accountable and “follow the evidence trail.” The impression given is that it avoided naming names or clearly criticising senior officers and officials to prevent political embarrassment or damage to the reputation of England’s second largest police force, markedly diminishing the Review’s credibility.
It’s handling of survivors like ‘Sophie’ drew particular scrutiny: Amanda Chadderton, the Leader of Oldham Council when the 2022 Assurance Review was published, said, in an accompanying press conference, that its response to Sophie’s complaints was “unacceptable” and the leadership of Children’s Services had since changed. She added: “It does read like a cover-up and we have to accept that. That is a failing on our part and that’s a weakness that was in Oldham Council at that time”. A ‘weakness’ that includes Shelley Kipling, newly installed as chief executive of Oldham Council, being a key member of the same Council’s comms team during that narrow time window scrutinised by the Review. Does her past role suggest a conflict of interest, or is this merely a curious footnote? Survivors – and Raja Miah – tend towards the former, frequently in unvarnished terms.
‘Sophie,’ a prominent voice in the Borough, shared her ordeal with Neil Wilby as part of the months-long journalistic investigation that led to the publication of a 7,000 word report, in November 2020, headlined: ‘Get the white vote angry’ (read the report in full at this weblink), exposing gaps later glossed over by the 2022 report. Three successive Leaders of the Council have subsequently said that they wished, in hindsight, that the report had been backed more fully by councillors and paid officers at the time of its publication, instead of allowing antagonists to claim the high ground.
Neil Wilby says: “Over the past five years, we’ve charted the political fallout: council meetings often ending in utter chaos and marked by impassioned survivor testimonies, cross-party motions demanding stronger action, and a growing rift between those who see grooming gangs as a pervasive threat and those who caution against racialised, money-making, narcissistic narratives.
“Or settling scores via long-running vendettas, such as the one mounted in 2019 by Raja Miah against Jim McMahon MP. Relentless to this day, with the antagonist desperate to smear the MP after being exposed over wide-scale safeguarding and financial failings, connected to two free schools that he ran, one of them in Oldham (read full background here).
“The schools closed in 2017, severely and adversely impacting on the lives of hundreds of pupils, parents, teachers and support staff. Prior to the McMahon clash, Miah had zero interest in campaigning against child sexual abuse. He airily dismisses any criticism over his ownership and running of those schools.
“There is no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, and it’s a hill I’m prepared to die on, that there was no blind eye turned to industrial scale rape of white working class girls in return for block votes delivered by Asian cartels at local and general elections.
“A conspiracy said to include a large group of senior paid officers of the Council; an entire police force (GMP); their safeguarding partner agencies; doctors and nurses; a multitude of Labour Party politicians; almost the entire British Pakistani community in Oldham, men and women; and local and regional journalists, even.
“That’s the core narrative of Raja Miah and The Rabble, an outrageous conspiracy theory netting him nearly £100,000 from supporters since he started his campaign against Jim McMahon. A figure calculated from publicly accessible funding data on his various Recusant Nine channels. No credible witnesses or documents, to my knowledge, have emerged in five years of investigation to support that stance. Only lurid, unsupported tales of the mythical cartels, murder plots, car-jacking, armed robbers, mobsters, gangsters and Pakistani goons all gunning for Raja but, with all that firepower, have managed not to lay a single finger on him, or any of The Rabble, from 2019 to the present day.”
The grooming issue gained mainstream traction in early 2025, when Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper (pictured above), announced a £10 million package to fund local inquiries into grooming gangs in five local authority areas, with Oldham named as the pilot scheme. Likely connected to the fact that Amanda Chadderton is registered by Parliament as a member of the Home Secretary’s support staff.
This followed months of pressure, and the Elon Musk narrative, that included Oldham councillors who, in February 2025, unanimously voted to demand a statutory public inquiry—one with legal powers to compel witnesses and evidence.
This was in the face of rejection of a statutory inquiry by the previous Conservative government in October, 2023 and the present Labour government soon after they took office in July, 2024.
Crowther’s appointment comes on the heels of that Council vote for a statutory inquiry, but it’s not the statutory inquiry many had envisioned. Instead, it’s a locally led, “Telford-style” review, supported by government funding and Crowther’s expertise. For some, this is a pragmatic compromise; for others, it’s a dilution of the accountability they’ve fought for.
The Political Context: Neil Wilby Media’s Lens
Since 2020, Neil Wilby Media has been an omnipresent observer of Oldham’s political landscape, often shining a light on the interplay between local governance and the grooming gang debate. Investigations have revealed a council grappling with questions about its past whilst navigating present-day challenges—budget cuts, social cohesion, and a polarised electorate tiring quickly of Labour rule. 45 seats on Oldham Council in April, 2021 had reduced to just 27, and a minority administration, three years later. The unpopular leadership of Cllr Arooj Shah being cited often as a substantial contributor to seat losses in key and previously ‘safe’ wards.
We’ve reported on the voices of rape survivors like ‘Sophie’ (the cipher given to her by the Assurance Review authors, Newsam and Ridgway), the most prominent CSE activist in the Borough, whom, in January 2025, branded the Labour Party’s inquiry plans “appalling”. Criticising the £5 million allocated for five inquiries as insufficient to uncover the full truth. In a quote given to The Independent newspaper she said:
“If that’s £5million for five inquiries, that’s £1million each,” adding that the Telford inquiry, which the local probes will be modelled on, cost far more.
“It’s disgusting. We need it to be statutory. I would say that is the problem, we need it to be a statutory inquiry so that people are forced to give evidence.”
A statement read out by Oldham’s deputy mayor, Eddie Moores, at a January, 2025 council meeting, representing survivors and their advocates, further highlighted the “extreme extra stress” of recent media coverage, noting a “decline in mental health” for survivors, and their families, and showing the personal cost beyond the impending inquiry itself..
“The past few months have been very difficult for us since Oldham’s decision to run their own independent inquiry. In addition to this, the last few weeks have been even more stressful, triggering and upsetting, having to watch the world’s media descend on our small town over such an emotive and extremely hurtful issue.”
Neil Wilby Media has also documented the persistent push by Opposition councillors for a judge-led, statutory inquiry, and their inalienable view that only such a process could properly hold public bodies to account. Time after time, over the previous three years, the ruling Labour Party whipped their elected Members to oppose such motions.
The Extraordinary Meeting of the Council, in February 2025, which eventually forced the council’s unanimous vote, was a testament to their resolve—and a reflection of the issue’s resonance with residents. Meanwhile, balancing survivor needs with political expedience and her own future in the post, Council Leader, Arooj Shah, emphasised survivor-led approaches, rejecting what her Party sees as politicisation and monetisation of deeply personal tragedies.
This tug-of-war has shaped the backdrop to Crowther’s appointment. His inquiry, whilst independent, lacks the statutory powers that Oldham’s Conservatives, mainly, and many survivors have demanded. It relies on voluntary cooperation from witnesses and institutions—a limitation that critics argue could hamstring its ability to dig deep into systemic failures. Both the Council’s and Greater Manchester Police’s conventional, and much-reported opacity, and propensity for reputation management, are likely to be high hurdles for the renowned KC to overcome.
What Crowther Brings—and What He Faces
Does Crowther’s Telford Inquiry offer a blueprint for what Oldham might expect? In that probe, he navigated a complex web of historical abuse, institutional negligence, and community mistrust. His report didn’t shy away from hard truths, finding that police and council failings had allowed exploitation to persist unchecked for decades. Survivors praised his approach, which prioritised their voices and delivered actionable outcomes.
Oldham, however, presents unique challenges – and not just in terms of public authority and police opacity: Unlike Telford, where the scale of abuse was staggering, but the narrative relatively uncontested, Oldham’s grooming gang story is muddied by conflicting accounts.
Neil Wilby Media’s reporting has highlighted cases like the 2012 Rochdale grooming scandal—often conflated with Oldham due to close, almost overlapping, geographic proximity—and isolated criminal proceedings involving Oldham suspects, such as the eight men who pleaded not guilty in early 2025 to charges involving two alleged victims.
Yet, definitive evidence of widespread, organised grooming gangs and Raja Miah’s mythical Asian cartels in the Borough remains elusive, a point the 2022 Assurance Review underscored. Asked countless times to produce his evidence, including specifically by Newsam and Ridgway, Raja Miah declines on each and every occasion. The ‘Get the white vote angry‘ report, mentioned earlier in this piece, and published almost 5 years ago, after an intensive journalistic investigation with access to many of the Borough’s key figures, concludes very strongly that what Miah puts forward as central to his narrative, an email between a BBC reporter, Kevin Fitzpatrick, and Jim McMahon, has no basis in facts or evidence.
Crowther will need to define the inquiry’s scope with precision: Will it focus solely on historic CSE, as in Telford, or address current allegations too, as some councillors have urged? Will it examine the role of race and culture—contentious issues that have fuelled national debate—or stick to operational failures? And how will it secure the cooperation of Greater Manchester Police and other core participants without legal compulsion? The best answer is that Tom will struggle, very much as Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway, himself a former senior police officer, did.
Survivor Voices and Community Expectations
One of Crowther’s stated priorities is ensuring survivor confidence—a principle that resonates strongly in Oldham. Local advocates have long argued that any inquiry must centre on those who endured the abuse, not just the institutions that failed them.
Oldham Council has echoed this, noting that the inquiry’s setup has been discussed with survivors and their supporters. “That this inquiry begins with the confidence of Oldham’s CSE survivors is hugely important,” Crowther said, signalling his intent to build on Telford’s victim-centred model.
Yet, survivor expectations vary. Some, like ‘Sophie’, fear a local inquiry won’t hold powerful figures accountable, pointing to the Council’s own role in past shortcomings. Others see Crowther’s involvement as a chance for vindication, provided the process is robust and transparent. The broader community, meanwhile, is watching closely.
Neil Wilby Media’s engagement with residents and stakeholders reveals a mix of hope, fatigue, and cynicism—many want answers, but doubt they’ll get the full story. The author of this article is very certain of the latter: Twelve years of holding GMP to account and five years of the same with Oldham Council give him a very solid foundation upon which to ground that view.
A National Debate in Microcosm
Oldham’s inquiry doesn’t exist in isolation: It’s part of a broader reckoning with grooming gangs across the UK, from Rotherham to Rochdale to Telford and many of the former mill towns and metropolitan districts in West Yorkshire, where there have been scores of prosecutions and, mostly, convictions of child sex offenders. Many linked to grooming gang offences such as sexual assault, rape, drug use and dealing, and human trafficking. With a tendency of over-representation of Asian offenders compared with their proportion of the population.
Bradford is, coincidentally, Raja Miah’s home city. Where he was born and spent his early years. It is also the area about which Neil Wilby wrote his first piece on CSE and inquiries, way back in 2013, and headlined ‘Bradford Council resists call for child grooming inquiry’. It can be read in full at this weblink.
The Home Secretary’s January 2025 announcement of a “rapid audit” into CSE data, and support for local inquiries, reflects Labour’s preference for localised solutions over a national probe—a stance that has drawn angry ripostes from high powered figures like Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson, who’ve waded into the fray, via social media.
Yvette Cooper’s approach, backed by Crowther’s advisory role across the five pilot areas, aims to balance granularity with national oversight.
Critics, however, see it as a dodge. The Telegraph argued in January that “only a statutory inquiry will reveal the truth,” whilst the unashamedly right-wing GB News has amplified calls for a full public investigation. Oldham’s experience could either validate Labour’s strategy or bolster the case for something bigger.
The Road Ahead
At present, Crowther’s inquiry is, of course, in its infancy. Terms of Reference are yet to be finalised, and the mechanisms for evidence-gathering remain under development. For Neil Wilby Media, this marks a new chapter in our ongoing coverage—postponing the planned retirement of Neil Wilby – and a chance to assess whether Oldham can finally confront its demons.
Crowther’s pedigree suggests he’s capable of delivering a rigorous, impactful report, but the absence of statutory powers and the Borough’s complex history mean the odds are stacked against a definitive resolution.
Will this inquiry silence the sceptics, heal the wounds of survivors, and restore trust in Oldham’s institutions by scrutinising today’s risks, as residents demand, or stay locked in the past? Thus joining the 2022 Assurance Review as another well-intentioned but incomplete effort?
Neil Wilby concludes: “As Crowther’s inquiry unfolds, we’ll keep asking the hard questions—for the sake of survivors, the truth, and Oldham’s future”.
Page last updated: Sunday 16th March, 2025 at 06h45
Photo Credits: UK Parliament
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