Top Cop Involved in Failed ‘Asian’ Rape Gang Investigation Promoted to Chief of Child Exploitation Unit

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 29: A policemen looks on as protesters take part in a larg
Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

A senior police detective who was involved in an operation that failed to go after a predominantly Pakistani child rape gang has been elevated to a top position dealing with sexual abuse against children.

Tony Cook, an investigating officer in the failed Operation Augusta, was promoted to the head of operations at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in Manchester four years ago, despite the institutional failure of the operation to protect children from a Pakistani grooming gang in the mid-2000s.

In a report last week detailing the failures of Operation Augusta, it was revealed that officers were told to focus on arresting grooming gang offenders of “other ethnicities” so as to not appear racist.

Detective Cook has denied that race played a role in the failure of the operation, saying in comments reported by The Times: “Any concerns about creating further community tensions did not influence any of his investigative decisions.”

The report, which relied heavily on Cook’s notes from the time, paints a different picture, however, quoting the inspector as saying there were “sensitive community issues” around the case and that perpetrators were “predominantly adult Asian men”.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective turned whistleblower on the failed operation, recommended that senior officers in the case should be prosecuted.

“I want the law changing so there can be retrospective accountability for people whose duty it is to protect the vulnerable. It’s knowing and deliberate neglection of duty… [those who were involved] should be charged with gross misconduct — it’s criminal — where is the accountability?” the former detective said.

Operation Augusta was initiated after a 15-year-old girl, Victoria Agoglia, died after being injected with heroin by her 50-year-old Asain male abuser, a man who the report claimed remains unpunished to this day.

The operation was shut down due to the inability “to put permanent staff into Operation Augusta”, claimed another senior officer. The report insisted that Tony Cook had no role in the shutting down of the operation.

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