Mum of Charlene Downes welcomes grooming inquiry plan

The mother of a 14-year-old girl believed to have been murdered more than 20 years ago has welcomed the announcement of a national grooming inquiry.

Charlene Downes went missing in Blackpool in 2003, but no-one has ever been convicted over her disappearance despite numerous arrests, trials and a £100,000 reward.

Police believe Charlene was one of a number of girls who were sexually exploited in the Lancashire resort.

Responding to Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement there would be a full, national statutory inquiry, the schoolgirl’s mother, Karen Downes, said it was “about time”.

Charlene disappeared near the town’s North Pier on 1 November 2003, but has never been found.

Her mother told the BBC: “I’m no fan of the prime minister but hopefully some good will come out of it.

“But all this has been going on for so long. I’d never heard of grooming gangs when Charlene went missing. I was shocked by the scale of it.

“Hopefully this inquiry will shed more light on it and more will be done.”

The search for Charlene has been one of Lancashire Police’s longest-running missing person inquiries.

Thousands of people have been spoken to by officers and almost 7,000 statements taken.

In 2008, a man who ran a local takeaway was cleared of Charlene’s murder when a retrial collapsed due to a judge’s “grave concerns” about the evidence.

The first trial had ended when a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Ms Downes has said she was “living in limbo” but still “optimistic” and hopeful that “we can get justice for Charlene”.

Lancashire Police have said inquiries into Charlene’s disappearance were ongoing and urged anyone with information however “insignificant” to get in touch.

The government has been under pressure to launch a full statutory inquiry into grooming gangs for months.

At the start of the year, it dismissed the calls, arguing it had already been examined in a seven-year inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay.

It instead announced the creation of a number of investigations to be conducted by local authorities and an audit by Baroness Louise Casey.

On Saturday, Sir Keir said Baroness Casey had completed the audit into data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.

He said he had accepted her recommendations, including that a national inquiry was required.

The inquiry will cover England and Wales.