Daily Mail
June 7, 2014
A judge has criticised a ‘lamentable failure’ by senior police officers to prevent a man raping a teenage girl and forcing her to have sex with his friends.
The case came to court at a time when similar crimes were under the spotlight.
Detectives from Thames Valley Police were told a 14-year-old schoolgirl was abused by Omid Ali, 21, but the judge said the predator was able to abuse her again because of a lack of action.
The crimes happened after the force launched Operation Bullfinch in May 2011, which targeted men sexually abusing vulnerable young girls in council care and saw seven men jailed for a total of 95 years after an 18-week trial at the Old Bailey last year.
At Oxford Crown Court, Judge Gordon Risius told how Ali, who was jailed for 14 years, subjected a vulnerable teenage girl to repeated abuse and forced her to have sex with his friends.
Judge Risius said the crimes were reported to police in January 2012 but officers did ‘little or nothing’ to follow them up and that Ali went on to abuse his victim again in the summer of 2012 before being arrested in November 2013.
Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sara Thornton said the failures were unacceptable and that an internal investigation was underway to determine what went wrong.
Sentencing Ali, Judge Risius said the girl reported the abuse to a teacher at her school, who notified the police and Oxfordshire County Council.
‘The police also spoke to her parents, who were unaware of what had been going on,’ said Judge Risius.
‘The police promised to deal with the matter and to keep them informed.
‘However, the officers tasked with carrying out the investigation did little or nothing to follow it up, despite a review by a more senior officer six months later.’
‘The jury were told that the police professional standards department is now looking into this lamentable failure to investigate very serious allegations with the care and attention they warranted.