Muslim mayor of London on the verge of resigning after denying the existence of Pakistani paedophile gangs: dozens of victims identified
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is reportedly considering resigning for denying that there is a problem with Pakistani grooming gangs in London, according to allegations pointing to an alleged institutional cover-up of sexual abuse against minors in the British capital. Criticism has mounted after former detective Jon Wedger claimed that official silence has allowed the exploitation to continue for decades.
Wedger, who was decorated during his time with the Metropolitan Police, claimed to have uncovered compelling evidence pointing to the existence of a large-scale trafficking network of girls aged between nine and fourteen operating in several London boroughs. According to his account, these minors were exchanged in crack houses, sold for paltry amounts of drugs and then taken to hotels in the city centre, where they were offered to construction workers. He also said that they were taken to luxury restaurants in Mayfair, where they fetched prices of up to £2,000 per encounter.
The former officer claims that he identified more than fifty potential victims in Haringey, six of whom were in emergency situations. However, when he tried to report his findings to higher authorities, he claims that he encountered deliberate obstacles from both police commanders and local representatives. Wedger presented documentation from the time — including official reports and his service notebook — to support his allegations, which are also included in the independent investigation into abuse commissioned in 2022.
The allegations of a cover-up are not limited to Haringey. Wedger claims that his reports on child recruitment networks in Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Westminster were directly censored. ‘They threatened me with losing my job, my home and even custody of my children if I spoke out,’ he said. In his view, the attitude of the current mayor, Khan, constitutes a case of ‘deliberate negligence’ that should cost him his job immediately.
Khan, who has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the London Assembly about the scale of these networks, also rejected funding for an independent investigation worth £4.5 million last February. In a tense parliamentary session, Conservative councillor Susan Hall asked him nine times about the matter, without getting a clear answer. For Wedger, this dismissive attitude contributes to a climate in which whistleblowers are ‘crushed’ and the victims themselves may be driven to suicide.
The revelations have provoked political reactions from all sides. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, described Wedger’s words as ‘devastating’ and accused the mayor of covering up the scandal. Reform UK MP Lee Anderson was even more blunt: ‘Sadiq Khan must resign or be removed from office. We cannot allow London to continue to be degraded in the eyes of the world.’
Victims and survivors have also spoken out. A woman identified as ‘Mandy’, who was abused in Yorkshire two decades ago, accused the mayor of ‘deliberately looking the other way’. Another victim, from a group in east London, described him as ‘disgusting’ for responding with sarcasm to such a sensitive issue.
