Grooming gangs inquiry widens to Birmingham and Wales after 'abhorrent' Rhyl child sex ring jailed

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026 · last updated 1 October 2026.

The £65 million statutory grooming gangs inquiry has launched new investigations in Birmingham and Wales, adding to its existing probes in London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley. Both investigations will examine what individuals and agencies did or did not do to protect children, with powers to compel witnesses and seize documents. The Welsh strand will cover the whole nation rather than a single town, following last week's jailing of four men and a woman for a combined 82 years for abusing girls as young as 14 in Rhyl as recently as 2024.

Baroness Anne Longfield is chairing the three-year inquiry, which Starmer initially resisted before a U-turn amid a row involving Elon Musk.

Survivor Fiona Goddard welcomed the move but warned the inquiry's scope 'must not come at the expense of the depth of investigation'.

Survivor 'Carly' said she could not understand how an investigation 'covering an area as enormous and complex as Wales can be described as a deep dive'.