Another batch of charges drops for historical child rape and the public is supposed to clap. Nine British men, aged 54 to 76, now stand accused of 41 offences including multiple rapes of girls under 16. This is Operation Oak. The crimes stretch back to the 1980s and 1990s in south Wales. Gwent Police finally made arrests across Newport, Swansea, Birmingham, London, Lancashire, Edinburgh and Argyll and Bute. The men are bailed to appear at Newport Magistrates’ Court on 24 July.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andrew Tuck says specialist support continues for the victims and urges anyone with information to come forward. Fine words. But parents and taxpayers have heard them before. How many girls had their lives wrecked while these men allegedly ran a network of abuse? Eight victims have come forward. How many did not?
The pattern feels grimly familiar. Group-based exploitation. Girls treated as disposable. Offences that went on for years. And now, decades later, the system creaks into action. Why does it take this long? Were the warnings there in the 80s and 90s? Did anyone in authority listen or were they too busy with other priorities?
Time is not the friend of justice here
These men are not teenagers caught up in a one-off mistake. Mohammed Ramzan, 76 from Newport, faces seven charges including two counts of rape of a girl under 16, three of indecent assault, causing prostitution of a girl under 16, and conspiracy to rape. The others — Shafaq Mohammed, Syed Mohammad Ashan Taqvi, Mohammed Sheikh Abdul Hannan, Kevin Lawrence, Sheikh Mohammed Tahir Ullah, Aminur Rahman Chowdhury, Shakeel Babur, Murad Ali — carry similar accusations. Rape. Indecent assault. Organised exploitation.
The girls were children. The men were adults. This was not romance. It was predation. And it happened in plain sight enough for a long-running police operation to eventually charge them. So where was everyone else? Social services? Schools? The wider community? The same questions keep piling up in case after case across the country.
Specialist support continues to be provided to the victims.
That line from the police sounds hollow when you realise it took until 2026 to reach this point. The victims are now women in their 40s and 50s carrying the damage for life. Some will never speak. Others have waited half a lifetime for this day in court. Meanwhile the rest of us foot the bill for investigations, courts, prisons and lifelong victim support that might have been avoided with earlier action.
