The chief prosecutor in one of Britain's worst child sexual exploitation cases will tonight warn no community is safe from sexual predators.
Nazir Afzal OBE, the Crown Prosecution Service's chief prosecutor for north-west England, led the case against nine men who were jailed last month for targeting five victims, including one as young as 13.
The gang received a total of 77 years for their roles in the abuse of the vulnerable girls in Rochdale, who were plied with food, alcohol, drugs and gifts so they could be passed around a group of men for sex.
He will tell a conference at the Glasgow Hilton: "There is sadly no community where women and girls are not at risk from men and sexual predators.
"I have prosecuted men from more than 25 countries for sexual offences, and victims came from 64 different countries. We have to deal with the United Nations of abusers of women, but white British men constitute the vast majority of offenders.
"Vulnerability is universal and not confined to particular races.
"Having spent a career challenging all communities on their harmful practices, there is no community where we will turn a blind eye."
Organiser Ali Khan, chairman of Roshni, a charity which addresses issues affecting members of the minority ethnic communities across Scotland, said: "There is a full range of services available in the UK [for victims] but ethnic minority communities are slightly less aware of services, coupled with perhaps being more reluctant to engage with services, so that seems to increase the disconnect between the safety of children within multi-ethnic communities."
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