London Mayor Sadiq Khan is facing renewed criticism after a major BBC investigation found that vulnerable girls as young as 14 are being lured into forced sex by gangs operating across the capital.
The investigation, based on weeks of reporting and interviews with dozens of people, including five survivors of gang-based violence, concluded that exploitation by organised groups is rife in parts of London.
Some victims told the BBC they were raped by multiple men as “payment” for unpaid drug debts run up by gangs that controlled them. Others said they had been groomed solely for sex. The investigation also found that girls were often drawn into criminal activity such as drug dealing, weapons trading, and phone theft before being sexually exploited.
One Metropolitan Police officer described young girls and women as the “lowest rung” within gang hierarchies, saying they were groomed and exploited “for everything.”
Public debate over grooming gangs in the U.K. has often focused on northern towns such as Rotherham and Rochdale. A government-commissioned report last year found that in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire, there was evidence of “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation.”
Further investigations have found the same in other towns and cities, including Telford, Oxford, Derby, Birmingham, Halifax, Peterborough, and countless others.
Last year, Khan said there was no “indication of […] grooming gangs” of the type seen in Rotherham operating in London. Following the BBC findings, a spokesperson for the mayor said he wanted to support police to tackle “all child sexual exploitation in the capital, including grooming gangs.”
Survivors told the broadcaster how exploitation often targeted girls from broken homes or troubled backgrounds.
“I didn’t feel like I was groomed or exploited. I didn’t think I was a victim. It’s taken me a while to realise I was used and manipulated,” one victim told the BBC.
Another survivor, Milly, said she was 15 when she was passed between different men.
“I was getting passed around different men every night – sometimes 10 or 15 a month,” she said, describing how she was plied with drink and drugs before being taken into bedrooms by different men.
“I don’t remember their names really. It sounds horrible, but I just know they were Asian. Sometimes they just said, ‘Oh, you’re a nice, young White girl,'” she added.
A third victim, Ruth, said: “They didn’t want anything but sex. I was low and they gave me expensive things so I felt wanted and then slept with them. It felt like I had multiple boyfriends giving me attention.”
Detective Sergeant John Knox, head of the Metropolitan Police child exploitation team in Lambeth and Southwark, said girls inside gangs “cannot say no to sex.”
“Within that gang world, the girls are at the lowest rung and they have to do as they’re told. And that includes sexually,” he said, adding that if a girl cannot refuse, “she’s being raped and that’s how we look at it as the police.”
Knox estimates at least 60 children in his south London area are currently being exploited by gangs, some as young as 13.
The BBC findings prompted sharp criticism from political opponents.
Susan Hall, leader of the Conservatives in the London Assembly, said the report was “shocking” and accused the mayor of dismissing concerns.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy wrote that the mayor had claimed there were no rape gangs in London and that “everyone knew that was nonsense.”
BREAKING: Susan Hall lashes out at Sadiq Khan over his reluctance to launch a grooming gangs inquiry 🔴#dailyexpress #sadiqkhan #groominggangs pic.twitter.com/YryxmEIN5X
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) January 29, 2026Last month, Hall pressed the mayor on whether grooming gangs were operating in London and called for funding for a dedicated inquiry. She accused Khan of previously dismissing her concerns, telling him, “I asked if we had grooming gangs in London. You dismissed my question by saying you didn’t know what I meant. I have to tell you, the rape victims knew exactly what I was talking about.”
Hall urged the mayor to apologize to victims who, she said, felt their experiences had been downplayed.
BREAKING: Susan Hall lashes out at Sadiq Khan over his reluctance to launch a grooming gangs inquiry 🔴#dailyexpress #sadiqkhan #groominggangs pic.twitter.com/YryxmEIN5X
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) January 29, 2026Khan refused to concede the point, replying during the exchange that the issue was too serious to “play party politics.”
Previously, he argued that the “specific type of systemic cases” seen in some northern towns were not the same as the more “complex” patterns of exploitation in London, refusing to acknowledge that the phenomenon of Asian grooming gangs raping White girls as seen across many U.K. cities was not prevalent on the London scene.
In October, the Metropolitan Police announced it will re-examine at least 1,200 child sexual exploitation cases following a national review, and previously confirmed it was reviewing 9,000 cases spanning 15 years.
An independent inquiry into grooming gangs chaired by Baroness Longfield is expected to begin later this year, with the Home Office stating it will have full powers to compel evidence and conduct local investigations.
