London:
The Pakistani community in Britain must urgently address the problem of gangs systematically grooming and abusing young white girls, British justice minister Damian Green has said.
Just days after the seven men were convicted of carrying out crimes of "medieval depravity" against girls as young as 11 in Oxford, Green said it was time to dismiss any vestiges of political correctness around the issue.
The Pakistani-origin men were found guilty of sex crimes against girls, some as young as 11. They were found guilty on a total of 43 charges.
Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Assad Hussain, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, Zeeshan Ahmed and Mohammed Hussain - all in their mid-20s and early 30s - were found guilty of either rape or conspiracy to rape. All are from Oxford.
The court heard victims were plied with alcohol and drugs before being forced to perform sex acts. Some had also been beaten, burned and threatened.
"You have been convicted of the most serious offences and long custodial sentences are inevitable," the judge at the Old Bailey said in his ruling today.
Years of failings by Thames Valley police and Oxford social services were exposed during the trial.
Police were alerted at least six times by victims who were aged between 11 and 15 of the exploitation and horrors that were taking place within flats and guesthouses and in the parks and open spaces of the Cowley area of Oxford.
Though, some social workers knew that some of the victims were being groomed, no one acted and drew all the evidence together until one detective took the case on in late 2010.
Police and social services have apologised to the victims, the number of whom police say could exceed 50.
The Oxford scandal was the fifth such case since 2010 with gangs of Pakistani men being convicted of similar cases in Rochdale, Derby, Rotherham and Shropshire.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Green, who is the minister for police and criminal justice, said he was setting up a Home Office-led group to help tackle the problem of sexual violence against children.
But he said it was also up to Pakistani community leaders to make it absolutely clear that such behaviour was "100 per cent unacceptable".
In the Oxford case, six girls were targeted by a gang, who showered them with gifts and attention before subjecting them to acts of appalling sexual violence.
The exploitation lasted for five years and only ended when the girls became brave enough to report their abusers to police.
But there is growing concern that wider issue is being brushed under the carpet because the authorities are fearful of being accused of racism.
"It's not sadly the first example we have had of organised serious exploitation and abuse involving Pakistani heritage men grooming and abusing white girls. I hope that what happens is that any last vestiges of political correctness that say, 'there are some cultural issues to address here' disappear, because this is criminality, pure and simple," Green said.
"I am encouraged that I have heard voices saying that over the last couple of days but I think that has got to be the starting point, that this must not be a cultural issue, this is just criminality and it applies to everyone," he added.
Green said the new Home Office task force would be aimed at helping those vulnerable to sexual exploitation by building in support across the criminal justice system.
"This will mean their voices are heard earlier and listened to more carefully. It will build more support into the system and improve systems for identifying those at risk.
But our prime responsibility is, of course, stopping abuse before it starts," said Green.
Green said while it was important to recognise exploitation and sexual abuse was a problem common to all parts of society denying the issue existed in the Pakistani community for cultural reasons was completely wrong.
"It is the case that most cases of child abuse actually involve the white British middle aged men, we have seen terrible examples of Jimmy Savile and others, but it does seem from the evidence that we have seen so far, a particular problem of this organised, systematic year after year grooming and abusing," Green said.
"There is clearly more than one example of this within the Pakistani origin community so that itself is a specific problem and everyone particularly the community leaders need to recognise that as a problem we need to address," he added.