Rape Gang Survivors Don't Need a Toothless Inquiry. They Need Real Justice

British public inquiries are toothless, long winded and expensive.

The one thing families who have lost loved ones in the most appalling circumstances really want is for somebody to be held responsible. Often when they are presented, after waiting years, with pages of recommendations and bromides about ‘lessons learned” their reaction is one of anger and frustration.

So don't be despondent that the political class has thwarted a public inquiry into the rape and grooming gangs. It would not have helped the survivors. The public has a better tool at its disposal. It's time to dust off an ancient English right in pursuit of English justice.

The right of individual British citizens to prosecute whomsoever they like has existed for centuries and for the vast majority of British history this was often how it was done.

In a judgement in 1978 Lord of Appeal Lord Wilberforce had this to say about private prosecutions:

“The individual… who wishes to see the law enforced has a remedy of his own: he can bring a private prosecution. This historical right which goes right back to the earliest days of our legal system, though rarely exercised in relation to indictable offences… remains a valuable constitutional safeguard against inertia or partiality on the part of authority”.

“Inertia or partiality on the part of authority.”

Can anyone think of a better description of the current government’s attitude to the rape gangs than this?