BBC’s Thought for the Day Guest Says Rape Gangs ‘Not Confined to Any Group’ – Guido Fawkes

The Today Programme moralised this morning by handing the mic to Reverend David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, for “Thought for the Day” on the upcoming Casey Review into the rape gangs scandal. Walker began with a sermon familiar to BBC listeners:

“This is not a pattern of offending confined to any particular ethnic cultural or religious group. I hope that the forthcoming inquiry will help us find ways to keep young girls safe from the groups of predatory older men whatever their origin but it is a natural human tendency to want to think that such horrendous crimes are only carried out by people who are not like us.”

Naturally, no mention of the actual data. According to the Hydrant Programme – the national police initiative investigating child sex abuse – Pakistani men are up to five times more likely to be involved in grooming gang offences than the general population. Back in 2014, Professor Alexis Jay’s landmark report into Rotherham found that the majority of “known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage.” Walker then went on to quote Matthew 7:3-5 to urge listeners not to focus on “more distant others”:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?…We must not retreat into the relative comfort of denouncing the misdeeds of more distant others for whilst gangs may dominate the news headlines.”

A curious choice of guest by the BBC this morning…