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

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 crimes.

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”.

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.

He won't last long in his new position, now he's been identified. I wonder what his wife and family really think of him?