A former detective and rape gang campaigner has said the public has lost trust in the criminal justice system.
Speaking on GB News, Maggie Oliver said: “I’ve been on this treadmill for 12 years now and in that time, I have seen the conversation move so that we are now having these conversations.
“They are conversations that we have to have. We find ourselves in this position where safety of women is actually, no longer guaranteed on our streets.
“I also would widen it to say that the criminal justice system in general is really unfit for purpose.
“We know the public have lost trust in the authorities’ ability to be able to protect them. When we look at the statistics, fewer than two in every reported 100 rapes ever reaches court – that’s without all the unreported rapes – so it’s no wonder that women feel unsafe on the streets.
“I think the solution begins with a conversation but we need to see action, we need to see investment. We need to see more fully trained, experienced police officers, and we need to regain trust in our public services.
“There is a very wide ranging set of reasons for why we are where we are. I’m known for speaking out about grooming gangs, and those men are predominantly Pakistani Muslim men.
“For two or three decades, we’ve not even been able to say that, let alone look into the reasons why this has continued to thrive and grow.
“And as we see unprecedented levels of illegal immigration into the country with young men, predominantly who don’t share our value systems, who treat women like second class citizens, we are undoubtedly going to see further dangers unless we get a grip of this and we address it by strengthening our criminal justice system.”
