Former police officer Maggie Oliver has launched a campaign to prosecute politicians who fail to protect rape gang victims across the UK.The initiative, called #TheyKnew, aims to gather evidence for legal action against officials who covered up child abuse.READ THE FULL STORY
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00:00Joining me now is Maggie Oliver, a lady who has done more to try to support victims and survivors of grooming gangs than, frankly, pretty much anyone in Britain.
00:11Maggie, it's an absolute pleasure to see you again. Thank you so much for making the time for us tonight on GB News.
00:16Now, I'm going to throw it over to you, Maggie, because I think you have a big announcement to make when it comes to grooming gangs.
00:21So the floor is yours.
00:23Yeah, thank you, Patrick, as always, and to your viewers for all the support and encouragement you give.
00:30I think what I'd like to say, first of all, Patrick, is that this new, this campaign is completely separate from my charity, totally independent of that.
00:40It's called Hashtag They Knew.
00:42I was a police officer for 16 years, and what I saw horrified me to the extent that I resigned.
00:49I saw what I believe to be corruption and cover-ups on an industrial scale to prosecute serial sexual offenders and protect children.
01:03Now, when I resigned, I had three aims.
01:06One, to help every victim and survivor who needed help so that they weren't on their own.
01:11The second one was to hold those who have knowingly failed in their duty to protect children, to hold them accountable, and I mean legally accountable, criminally accountable, for gross criminal neglect.
01:25And the third aim was to bring in systemic change so that future generations of children do not have to suffer the same neglect that previous generations have.
01:35So, I have seen, over the last 12 years, repeatedly, cover-ups.
01:41The evidence is there to show that there was gross criminal neglect, and yet I have taken it to every institution.
01:49You know, police complaints, the IOPC, the Home Office, the Children's Commissioner.
01:54Nobody wants to do anything about it.
01:56The country knows there has been a cover-up, and yet no individual senior chief constable, head of social services,
02:03council leader, has ever been held criminally to account for gross neglect.
02:09And this campaign is to bring barristers, lawyers together, who are giving their time on a very, some of it pro bono,
02:18but as a public service, to gather the evidence to ensure that action is taken.
02:24And it's survivor-led, but it's evidence-driven.
02:28I know from my 15, 20 years of experience that the evidence exists to prove that those at the top of these institutions knowingly covered it up.
02:39I can't pay for a private prosecution.
02:42That is probably what it will need.
02:44But I believe firmly that without personal accountability for those in positions of power,
02:50we will never really see the changes that we need.
02:54And we will continue to abandon children to their fate when the institutions fail to step in.
03:02Nobody has been held accountable.
03:04What you've just shown, Patrick, has shown that the government, repeated governments, successive governments,
03:09do not wish to open this can of worms.
03:13And it will take people who take the law out of their hands to make sure that something is done about it.
03:19How damning is this, Maggie, seriously, that it's got to a point, as far as you're concerned,
03:25that every single institutional public body that is supposed to be doing this kind of stuff,
03:29every single politician has failed and is refusing to do so.
03:34And so the only way that victims and survivors are going to get justice,
03:39but also, crucially, the only way that people who may have been in positions of power in the police force,
03:45in positions of power in politics, both at a local and a more national level,
03:50in positions of power in other areas, for example, whether they might have been magistrates or things like that,
03:54the only way they are potentially going to be legally held to account
04:00is going to be through someone like yourself and others taking those matters into your own hands.
04:06I mean, that is quite damning, isn't it?
04:08It's damning.
04:08But that is what I believe, Patrick.
04:10I mean, I'm going to simplify it to one example, for instance, but there are many.
04:162005, Operation Augusta, 97 paedophiles identified, named.
04:22We knew who they were.
04:23It turns out now over 70 children abandoned.
04:26Greater Manchester Police, the Gold Command Group,
04:29knowingly, deliberately closed down that investigation because they wouldn't put resources in.
04:34The official report in 2020 confirmed that.
04:38Five senior officers were referred to the IOPC.
04:41They all refused to be interviewed.
04:43They are still walking the streets on a big pension.
04:46The authorities know that they are guilty of gross criminal neglect.
04:50Those men were allowed to continue to abuse for another 20 years.
04:54I do not believe that the state will take action.
04:57And so it's left to people like me with my experience.
05:00I don't want my knowledge and experience to fade away before we see true accountability.
05:05And I am using my knowledge and my experience to try and lead the country towards the change that is needed.
05:13I can't do it on my own.
05:15I need public support to do it.
05:17None of this money that is raised, Patrick, will come to me, the survivors.
05:21It is to ensure that action is taken.
05:25And I believe this is the only way to do it.
05:27I honestly and truthfully do believe that, Patrick.
05:30And I'm going to tell people how they can donate as well in a second.
05:35But you firmly believe then that currently in Britain, there are people who have either retired now from positions of power or are still in positions of power who were complicit in either A, the abuse or B, the cover up.
05:51And do you think that the reason why people have had made, by the way, Labour deny that they've pulled the rug on this.
05:58Right. But I think the perception certainly is that they have.
06:01Do you think the reason why they've pulled the rug on it is because they are worried about about how deep this goes and what it might reveal?
06:08I think that they just want to cover it up.
06:11And that's been the case.
06:12You know, Anne Cryer, you know, she was trying to get it highlighted 25 years ago.
06:18They're not going to do anything about it.
06:20I don't trust them.
06:21And that's based not on my ideas.
06:24It's based on what I have seen.
06:26I know the evidence is there.
06:28I have shared it with the Home Office.
06:29They have done nothing with it.
06:31And I've not seen anything in the last three months that leads me to believe that there is ever going to be a difference unless people in office now believe that in 10 years' time they may be held accountable for their deliberate neglect of duty.
06:46That's the only way I see change.
06:48So, practically speaking, Maggie, how do you see this playing out?
06:51So, is there a team of lawyers behind this?
06:53You say that you've got evidence.
06:55Obviously, we're not going to name any names or anything.
06:57You've been very careful not to do that.
06:59And I understand exactly why.
07:00But you believe you've got evidence on various people or groups or organisations.
07:07And who are you going to be presenting that evidence to?
07:09How do you see this panning out if you're going to get justice done?
07:12This is an investigation that the barristers, they are the legal brains.
07:18I know what the evidence is.
07:20They have to find a way through this.
07:22They have to gather the evidence.
07:23They have to put it together in a way that they can present in a private prosecution or in a criminal case.
07:29They will go where the evidence takes them.
07:31But I know I've had 20 years.
07:33I've spoken to thousands of victims.
07:35Many are saying, and I know it is the truth, that they have not been heard.
07:40And the organisations, the public services, are more interested in protecting their reputation than in making sure that there is accountability when people deliberately fail in their duty.
07:55It's not my opinion, Patrick.
07:57The facts back that up.
07:59And we just need the support to do this.
08:02The government should be doing this.
08:04And you're right to say it's not just your opinion.
08:07I mean, you obviously come at it from an angle of you believe you're sitting on huge amounts of documented evidence.
08:11Yes, I do.
08:12I believe you are as well, probably.
08:14But it's also very prominent voices, you know, even the likes of a very well-respected figure in the British media, Trevor Phillips, who as well, I believe, was a former, may still be a current Labour Party member.
08:25He's been very open about that in the past.
08:26He went on record last week saying, look, as far as he's concerned, and I am paraphrasing here, but as far as he's concerned, the main reason why Labour have not maybe gone as deep into this as they possibly could have done would be to either, you know, potentially protect some of their own, whether it's councillors, et cetera, or not want to inflame racial tensions.
08:45They're very scared, maybe, of the quotes-unquote Muslim votes in some of the constituencies, et cetera.
08:49So it's not just you saying this.
08:50It's not just me saying this.
08:52No.
08:52There's a perception there right across the country.
08:54Now, I am going to say that the way that people can help out in this, if they wish to, would be, as I believe, is going to go to crowdjustice.co.uk forward slash they knew, which is crowdjustice.co.uk forward slash they knew.
09:08That's up to anyone here if they want to do that.
09:10But a lot of our viewers and listeners, Maggie, will remember some of the last times we spoke was for a different crowdfunding event.
09:17That was actually for the Maggie Oliver Foundation.
09:20So if we could just do a little bit of a handbrake turn on to that and just maybe just say to our viewers and listeners exactly how's that money's helped.
09:28You know what?
09:30It's been life-changing for the charity.
09:32And I feel now because of that, because we are able to have some security for the future, thanks to all the donations that came in on your fundraiser, Patrick, it's been life-changing for us.
09:45And this has allowed me to kind of take my eye off the ball, knowing that the victims and survivors are actually being supported properly by the charity.
09:55But this is close to my heart.
09:57I don't want to die with all my knowledge and all my learning having been gone to waste, because I truly believe that I have got, you know, I know where the victims are that have this evidence.
10:07I know that they need to be heard, but we don't need another seven years delay in another inquiry.
10:16What we need is action.
10:17The company that we've set up as a vehicle to push this action is called Action for Accountability.
10:23And that is where we will see success, we will see accountability, we will have people in the future then looking over their shoulder knowing that they too could be held to account in 10 years' time if they do not act and do their duty today.
10:39This is about the future.
10:40It is not about the past, but in order to change things for the future, we have to make sure that people in positions of trust and authority now know that they can be personally held accountable for their failures.
10:53Well, Maggie, thank you very, very much.
10:55It's always a pleasure to see you.
10:56Well done for sticking your head above the parapet again.
10:58I hope that we can continue to touch base on this.
11:00That is Maggie Oliver there.
11:03And look, hey, it's a real shame, isn't it, that people, individuals, you know, feel as though that they have to take matters into their own hands to get justice for the victims, for the survivors, but also to ensure that some people who may have been involved in...