Sir Sadiq Khan is “absolutely fooling himself” to suggest that he has no knowledge of the scale of the grooming gangs issue in London, a survivor told Patrick Christys.Fiona Goddard quit her role on the victims and survivors liaison panel for the Government’s national inquiry, alongside Ellie Reynolds, after she expressed concerns over political interference and treatment of survivors. Ms Goddard resigned from her role on Monday, citing “condescending and controlling language used towards survivors”.Speaking to GB News presenter Patrick Christys, the survivor, who suffered abuse in Bradford, gave a stark warning to the Mayor of London over the scale of the issue in the nation’s Capital.The scale of the grooming gangs scandal in the nation’s Capital is ‘going to be huge’, Ms Goddard warned | GB NEWS“London most definitely has a grooming gang issue,” she told Patrick.She further explained: “The grooming gangs work through the same networks that gun trafficking and drug trafficking work through, which London is a central position.“So is Bradford. That’s why Bradford has such a bad issue with it.Ms Goddard, who was abused by a street gang in the northern city while she lived in a children’s home, is one of three survivors who has stepped down since Monday morning.Meanwhile, the Mayor has faced a slew of criticism from his colleagues in City Hall for his conduct on the matter, with the leader of the London Conservatives branding his handling “absolutely diabolical”. Speaking on GB News, Susan Hall hit out at the capital’s Mayor for “not answering her properly” when she previously probed him on the scandal. The Labour Mayor was accused of ignoring concerns about grooming gangs operating in the capital following a spat with City Hall Conservative Susan Hall earlier this year.But a sickening investigation led by The Daily Express and MyLondon has now revealed that young girls had been raped in the city’s hotels by groups of men.
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In a fiery exchange in the debating chamber of City Hall, Ms Hall asked: “Grooming gangs, that I would call rape gangs. Tell me about them. How many of those have we got? Not county lines. Those particular groups.”Sir Sadiq told the London Assembly: “We know in London there are issues about exploitation of young people, but they are not as defined by the member in her definition of what those types of gangs are.””There’s no way that Sadiq Khan doesn’t have any idea if there’s grooming gangs in London,” Ms Goddard told Patrick. “He’s absolutely fooling himself to try and even suggest that, and I can imagine the scale in London is going to be huge.”‘There’s no way that Sadiq Khan doesn’t have any idea if there’s grooming gangs in London,’ the survivor told Patrick | PAA spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “Sadiq is committed to doing all he can to protect children in London from organised criminal and sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice. “This includes his £15.6million Violence and Exploitation Support Service which provides specialist support to young Londoners who are vulnerable, caught up in or being exploited by criminal gangs in the Capital, as well as supporting the Met to deliver a new child first approach to safeguarding and enforcement action to tackle county lines.”On Monday morning, Ms Goddard announced that she was departing from the panel – hitting out at Labour’s handling of the scandal as she did so.She said: “The most concerning development of this inquiry has been the identities of the two perspective chairs. One has a background in policing and the other, a social worker.”“The very two services that contributed most to the cover-up of the national mass rape and trafficking of children. “This is a disturbing conflict of interest, and I fear the lack of trust in services from years of failings and corruption will have a negative impact in survivor engagement with this inquiry.”