Research into grooming gangs across the United Kingdom has revealed extensive links between individuals involved in child sexual exploitation and wider networks of organised crime. A new project, known as The Network Map, has compiled evidence showing connections between grooming gang members and more than 150 other criminals, including drug traffickers and violent offenders.

The analysis draws on a wide range of sources, including police records, court documents, local authority data, as well as interviews with survivors, journalists, and campaigners. It is intended to provide the most comprehensive overview yet of how these criminal networks interrelate, highlighting that perpetrators operate in nearly every region of the country.

The newly gathered evidence comes ahead of a national inquiry launched earlier this year, which will initially focus on London, Oldham, Bradford, and Keighley. This inquiry, funded with £65 million, seeks to examine how grooming gangs operated and to assess the response of local authorities and public institutions. Former children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield is leading the probe, which has the authority to compel testimony and require organisations to submit relevant documents.

Any findings of criminal activity uncovered by the inquiry will be passed on to Operation Beaconport, a police initiative begun last year to re-examine hundreds of previously closed investigations relating to grooming gangs.

Previous audits, such as one conducted by Baroness Casey, have criticized councils, police forces, and the Home Office for avoiding confronting difficult questions, including those concerning the ethnic backgrounds of perpetrators. Casey’s review drew attention to data from Rotherham, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire indicating a disproportionate number of men of South Asian descent among those accused of grooming offences.

The Network Map has identified over 1,000 perpetrators and affiliations, including families, gangs, establishments, and several notable individuals such as local councillors and police officers connected, either directly or indirectly, to grooming activities. Of these “notable individuals,” more than 150 are reported to be involved in other forms of criminality, including organised drug trafficking and protection rackets.

One high-profile figure linked to the network is Amar Ilyas, a 41-year-old serial rapist who targeted girls as young as 12 before fleeing to Pakistan, where he remains at large. The project details how Ilyas was reportedly stabbed in the head by an organised criminal involved in drug trafficking, an incident believed by detectives to be connected to a separate shooting.

Authorities and researchers hope that this comprehensive mapping of connections will improve understanding of the scale and complexity of grooming networks and aid in more effective law enforcement and institutional responses moving forward.