Former charity boss accused in Parliament of 'spreading hate, racism, and disinformation' in relation to child sexual abuse in Oldham
30.06.2022 - 21:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A former charity boss has been accused in Parliament of "spreading misinformation" in relation to child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon used parliamentary privilege to accuse Raja Miah of seeking to make financial and political gain by "spreading hate, racism, and disinformation" on his online blog.
The Labour MP said Mr Miah was motivated by a "self-declared campaign of revenge" after the collapse of a free school chain on his watch.
Mr McMahon said videos and posts on Mr Miah's website were "diverting focus away from justice for victims" of abuse in Oldham.
READ MORE:How the long shadow of grooming gang allegations changed Oldham’s politics - and took down two leaders
The comments come a week after the publication of the damning Oldham Child Sexual Exploitation report.
The report, carried out by experts Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway, found that vulnerable children had been failed despite efforts to protect them between 2011 and 2014.
A specific case dating back to 2005 involving ‘Sophie’, a 12-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped, is singled out for intense criticism for the way authorities dealt with the investigation into her assaults by strangers, and for the failure to take action when she was being groomed online.
In Sophie’s case both Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Oldham council were said to be more concerned with their reputations and ‘covering up their failures’ than acknowledging the harm done to the young girl.
However, when assessing the claims about a widespread cover up of abuse in the borough, the review team found ‘no evidence’ to support this.
They stated: "We have concluded that we have been provided with no evidence, either through our interviews or