Gary Goldsmith shared his views on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during Tuesday night’s Celebrity Big Brother, which saw the stars getting to know each other.

As he settled into the house, Gary spoke to Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, both 71, about his views on the royal family and slammed Meghan for changing the family dynamic.

The 58-year-old businessman, who is the younger brother of Carole Middleton and uncle to Kate Middleton, also claimed Harry ‘will come back and be part of the gang again one day’.

Admitting he hasn’t met Meghan, Gary said: ‘I have an opinion that Harry was really, really really loved and when they were a threesome, so Kate, William and Harry they looked really comfortable together, and then suddenly there’s an extra dynamic that comes in, puts a stick in the spokes and creates so much drama that I don’t genuinely think is there, and rewrote the history, saying how unhappy he was and I just don’t think that’s fair.’

‘I mean you can’t throw your family under the bus in such a dramatic style, then write books about it and expect to be invited round for Christmas.’

He added: ‘I think its really sad. At some point I think he is going to come back and be a part of the gang again. He might need to.

‘We are a very forgiving nation, it would be nice if he did.’

Gary later quipped: ‘The worst thing I’ve said about him is that he wouldn’t make my pub quiz team.’

Sharon added her opinion to the mix, saying of Harry: ‘I think he is foolish but he is not a bad person.’ She said of the couple’s reception in the US, where she mostly lives: ‘In the beginning, they were very very well received.

‘They don’t understand it, but they do love it, you know? But it’s dwindling, dwindling, dwindling and there’s been some deals that they have done that haven’t worked well.’

Gary’s appearance on CBB has been described as the ‘last thing [Kate] needs’ as her recovery continues, a royal expert said today.

Kate’s uncle said she could be watching ITV’s Celebrity Big Brother from ‘behind a sofa’ as he entered the house on Monday night.

Presenter AJ Odudu asked him: ‘The nation needs to know, will Kate be watching?’

He said: ‘If she is it will be behind a sofa, I guess.’

Gary, who is reportedly worth £30 million, has enjoyed a close relationship with the Princess of Wales over the years, and attended her wedding to Prince William in 2011. 

Kate was a bridesmaid at Gary’s first wedding to sales executive Miranda Foote in 1991, and her uncle previously revealed how the heartbroken royal sought solace at his Ibiza villa after a break-up with William. 

Gary is said to have told friends that he won’t do anything to hurt Kate or William – but he has previously attacked Prince Harry and Meghan, and they could therefore now be in the firing line.

Elsewhere in Tuesday night’s episode, fans were left in hysterics after Fern Britton wasted no time in quizzing Gary on his intentions coming into the house.

Gary revealed that he is hoping his stint on Big Brother will allow the public to see a different side of him as he entered the house on Monday. 

And as the housemates got to know each other and began to mingle the TV presenter was straight to the point as she asked Gary: ‘I’m just fascinated in why are you here?’ 

Slightly taken aback, Gary replied: ‘Because I want to prove I am not the caricature portrayed in the press’. 

Wondering whether he will reveal any royal gossip, Fern continued: ‘And how much can you say about everything?’ 

Gary added: ‘Well I can pretty much give my opinion about everything,’ before joking: ‘Unless a red laser dot appears on my chest’. 

With Kate out of the spotlight while recovering from abdominal surgery, royal fans will no doubt hope that the millionaire businessman, 58, will open up about his relationship with his niece, who he says is ‘the most spectacular person I’ve ever met.’

Fans went wild for Fern’s blunt introduction as he one exclaimed: ‘Fearne [sic] asking the REAL QUESTIONS’. 

A second joked: ‘Fern may as well have said. “Who the f**k are you?” to Gary’.

A third chimed: ‘Love Fern Britton asking Gary why he’s there,’ while a fourth added: ‘obsessed with fern britton quizzing gary goldsmith spill that tea’. 

While the limelight seemed to be on Gary, Louis had a diva moment when it came down to choosing a bed.

Louis made The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Lauren move away from his bed and shouted: ‘No that’s mine. That’s mine. Upt, up, up that’s mine.’

Lauren was quick to stand up and move across the room saying she did not want to argue with the Irish judge.

And Reggae Reggae sauce man Levi Roots shocked housemates and viewers alike as he made a surprising revelation about his family life. 

The musician, 65, confessed he has eight children by seven different women. 

As the housemates climbed into bed for their first night in the house, Marisha Wallace asked the star how many children he has. 

As Levi replied: ‘Eight’ the housemates were shocked as Fern Britton exclaimed: ‘Man alive’. 

Levi then admitted: ‘Fern it gets worse,’ as he continued: ‘I have eight children with seven different mothers.’ 

‘God almighty, you did a lot,’ joked Marisha, as Strictly dancer Nikita Kuzmin sat looking completely stunned. 

Levi explained that his eldest child is in their 40s as he admitted: ‘I am 65, I started young’. 

‘Levi you probably are my daddy,’ teased Manisha as the pair burst into hysterics. 

During the episode, Sharon opened up about her husband Ozzy Osbourne, revealing what he said to her before she entered the house.

Sharon is a ‘lodger’ on the reality series and will be in the house with her fellow celebrities for five days.

Getting to know her other housemates on the first night, Sharon discussed her 42-year marriage to Ozzy with West End star Marisha Wallace.

Marisha asked: ‘What is it like to be with someone for that long, I can’t even imagine.’

Sharon gushed: ‘It just becomes the most natural thing,’ as Marisha commented: ‘That’s real love’.

Marisha asked Sharon how Ozzy, who has Parkinson’s disease, how he has been getting on lately.

‘He’s doing OK,’ Sharon replied. ‘I already had the first phone call on my way here saying ‘everyone misses you, the dogs miss you’.

American actress Marisha asked her how long she’s been living across the pond, and Sharon joked: ‘A long ass time!’

She continued: ‘I first moved to America in 75. And I stayed. Even though Ozzy’s from England we met over there.’

Marisha said: ‘You have been together so long’ as Sharon agrees: ‘Forever, a lifetime.’

Friendly, fun and still affectionately known to most as ‘Fergie’, Sarah, Duchess of York, has long been the party-loving royal celebrities want to spend time with.

The former-wife of Prince Andrew has remained close to her former husband while carving out a career for herself as an author, charity campaigner sometime television presenter and much else besides.

Sarah’s most recent novel is called A Most Intriguing Lady, which is certainly a sentiment shared by these famous folk with whom the Duchess struck up long-lasting and unlikely friendships.

WILL.I.AM

No, not the heir to the throne, her nephew, but the rapper and coach on The Voice. 

As a member of The Black Eyed Peas, Will.I.am spent many years performing with a different Fergie – the American singing version.

Talking of his friendship with the royal, Will says: ‘Royal Fergie is my home girl. 

‘We do tea together all the time. She even came to my ghetto to mentor kids at a school. I love her, she’s the real Fergie.’

Will has even read some of Sarah’s poetry and explored the possibility of using her words in his music.

DAVID AND VICTORIA BECKHAM

Former-husband Prince Andrew famously claimed to have attended a child’s birthday party at Pizza Express in Woking.

Fergie raised the bar when she helped to organise a very special sixth birthday party for Harper Beckham.

Friends with Harper’s parents, David and Victoria, Sarah arranged for Harper to throw a tea party for her friends at Buckingham Palace and meet her daughter Princess Eugenie.

Although it raised eyebrows as time, the friendship has clearly endured as two years ago Sarah was spotted enthusiastically hugging and kissing David and Victoria when they bumped into each other on holiday in Italy.

NAOMI CAMPBELL

At first glance you wouldn’t imagine that a supermodel from Streatham and a posh polo manager’s daughter from Hampshire would have much in common.

Yet Fergie and Naomi Campbell have been the best of pals for nearly two decades, ever since Sarah lent her support to Naomi’s Fashion for Relief charity.

Over the years Naomi has persuaded Sarah to walk the catwalk at some of her fundraisers, including at London Fashion week in 2015.

The pair regularly dine and attend parties together and through the Duchess, Naomi is also friends with Beatrice and Eugenie and attended Eugenie’s wedding.

KATE MOSS

Believed to have been introduced by mutual friend Naomi Campbell, Fergie and Kate Moss are great buddies.

Both women have ridden out their own scandals and have been pictured on holiday together twice. 

The first time in Venice 2013 (when Fergie had her daughters in tow) then again in 2016 when Sarah was pictured on holiday in Greece with the Croydon born model. They have regular girlie nights out in London, often snapped looking the worst for wear in the early hours.

LISA MARIE PRESLEY

Of all Fergie’s famous friendships, her close bond with the daughter of Elvis Presley is, perhaps, the most curious of all.

The extent of Sarah’s deep friendship with Lisa Marie only came to light last year, when the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley died unexpectedly at the age of 54.

Sarah gave a eulogy at Lisa Marie’s funeral, referring to her late friend by her pet name ‘Sissy.’ 

Paying tribute to her on Instagram, Sarah described Lisa Marie as ‘my devoted friend for many years.’

They forged a friendship in the early 2000s, bonding over their work for children’s charities.

When Fergie hit the headlines in 2010 for promising access to the royals in return for cash, it was Lisa Marie who came to her rescue, offering up her holiday home in Hawaii as a secret refuge.

For many years, Lisa lived privately in a small village close to Tunbridge Wells in Kent, where Fergie was a regular visitor.

ROBBIE WILLIAMS AND AYDA FIELD

Those watching Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank in 2018 were surprised to see Robbie Williams’ then six-year-old daughter Teddy as bridesmaid.

It turns out that Robbie and his wife, Ayda, have been friends with the York girls and Fergie for many years.

Former Take That star Robbie has called the Duchess ‘an amazing woman’ and revealed that they ‘get on like a house on fire.’

Fergie first met Robbie and Ayda on holiday in the Caribbean in 2011, when Sarah was later seen shopping with Ayda in St Barts.

Since then the Yorks have been to say at the Williams’ home in LA and Robbie and Ayda always try and dine with Sarah and her daughters on trips to London.

ELTON JOHN AND DAVID FURNISH

Everyone is familiar with Elton John’s friendship with the late Princess Diana, but he and his husband David are also close friends with Sarah.

When Elton attended Sarah’s wedding to Prince Andrew he did so with his then wife Renata. Neither marriage lasted but Sarah’s friendship with Elton did.

Sarah was there to support him and David Furnish when they became two of the first gay men in the UK to have a civil partnership ceremony in 2005.

The Duchess is a regular attendee at Elton and David’s annual fundraising event for their AIDS charity.

BILLY CONNOLLY AND PAMELA STEPHENSON

Before quitting the UK, comedian Billy Connolly and his wife Pamela Stephenson – the actress turned psychologist – lived in Berkshire. They became close friends with neighbours Sarah and Prince Andrew and attended their wedding.

In the years afterwards the celebrity pair were regular dinner party guests at The York’s home in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

When Billy and Pamela moved to LA, Sarah was a visitor. He once revealed his amusement at Beatrice and Eugenie not appearing to know that they were princesses.

‘I remember Fergie’s two girls Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice were in our house in Los Angeles where we lived before moving to New York. They were with my girls playing in the dressing-up box. They both came into the room and said, “Look, we’re Princesses.”’

A guest on Pamela’s CH4 TV series The Fame Report, Fergie talked to her old friend about how feeling ‘ugly’ next to her glamorous mother had triggered her unhealthy relationship with food.

BOB GELDOF

The Duchess of York was a surprise guest at the 2015 wedding in France of Bob Geldof to his long-term girlfriend Jeanne Marine.

But it turns out that the pair go back a long way and Sarah has been close to Jeanne for many years with both supporting the same charities including The Warrior Programme, which helps injured veterans, and the Angel Foundation for Cancer Research.

They all share a mutual friend in the Russian billionaire Vladamir Doronin and travelled together to India to celebrate his 50th birthday at a lavish party in 2012.

Both the York girls are friends with Pixie Geldof, who was a guest at Beatrice’s 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle.

DAVE GARDNER

It’s likely that Fergie met football agent Gardner through David Beckham. The two men are besties, after all.

Whatever the story, it seems that Sarah and Dave have become good friends in their own right. 

The Duchess was a guest at Dave’s 40th birthday party at Lou Lou’s club in London and he and his then partner Liv Tyler were also guests at Princess Eugenie’s wedding.

SALLY HUMPHREYS WOOD

When it comes to her celebrity friends, Fergie certainly has a soft spot for rockers…and their glamorous wives.

Sarah and Sally Humphreys Wood, the actress and producer wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood have a fond friendship after bumping into each other at charity fundraisers.

The pair always are often spotted huddled together and exchanging warm hugs at events including a Marie Curie summer party hosted by socialite Heather Kerzner and at the inaugural event of the Novak Djokovic Foundation.

It goes without saying that Beatrice and Eugenie are also friendly with Sally too!

A CRIMINAL gang took over the home of a Premier League star and forced his tenant to let them grow cannabis.

The cuckoo crooks left the female resident surrounded by hundreds of plants.

2

2

But when police raided the house, the player had to prove his innocence to avoid charges.

Police also released the tenant without charge after deciding she had been set up by the gang.

A source told The Sun: “This player owns the house in the North West as part of a buy-to-let empire.

“Another family member manages the property, but they couldn't believe it when police found a large-scale cannabis farm.

“The plants were removed and destroyed and the player had to produce paperwork to prove that while he owned the property, he had someone else living in it.”

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the production and possession of cannabis with intent to supply is a criminal offense that can result in up to 14 years' imprisonment.

Landlords who fail to report suspected illegal activity may be held liable and subject to the same penalty.

Rental income can also be seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The number of cannabis farms operating in homes is growing.

In June, more than 1,000 people were raided, with plants worth £130 million seized and 1,000 suspects arrested.

In criminal trials, individual plants are often assigned a value of £840.

The Council of National Police Chiefs has said: “Organized networks involved in cannabis production are also directly linked to other serious crime, such as the importation of Class A drugs, slavery, violence and exploitation.”

By Ishita Srivastava for Dailymail.Com

Published: 09:52 EST, February 9, 2024 | Updated: 11:54 EST, February 9, 2024

Research into the metaverse has revealed that the digital world is swirling with gang rape, child grooming, and graphic content.

DailyMail.com has witnessed such acts firsthand after spending time in Meta's Horizon Worlds, discovering that it is becoming a haven for people to carry out sexual violence under the guise of their avatar.

We were welcomed into the digital world by a male avatar who approached a woman in a bustling city square, who then started making crude sex noises and hitting her with an umbrella.

The female avatar tried to escape, but the obscene growls increased in volume as she screamed, “Stop it!”

These attacks are carried out by ordinary users, who “hide behind” the anonymity of their avatars, and the number of cases is increasing, says Bernard Marr, technology expert and author of The Future Internet, speaking to Daily Mail.com.

Marr said the lack of laws to punish people for harassment and assault leads people in the metaverse to commit acts they “wouldn't dare in real life.”

“The alarming increase in virtual attacks in the metaverse can be attributed to the lack of specific laws governing these spaces,” he told DailyMail.com.

“Unlike the tangible world, the metaverse currently operates in a legal gray area, where traditional laws about physical interaction do not necessarily apply or are difficult to enforce.

“The lack of specific laws for the metaverse encourages users to take actions they wouldn't dare in real life, taking advantage of the anonymity and immersive nature of the space.”

During DailyMail.com's investigation, we saw avatars running and jumping around as the female fell victim to her male aggressor – not a single avatar acknowledged the situation.

The incident didn't take place in one of Horizon's rooms dedicated to sex and drugs, but in a beginner's world for people new to the game.

Horizon Worlds is designed like a sun-drenched fantasy city, but the energy is like an internet chat room: chaotic and impersonal.

Attacks and harassment are widespread, with the Center for Digital Hate recently finding that harassment of minors by adults is “not uncommon” in Mark Zuckerberg's Horizon Worlds.

The report noted that adult avatars have ejaculated on young girls in the metaverse and threatened to perform sexual acts on users under the age of 15.

Researchers identified 100 potential violations of Meta's policies for VR in 11 hours and 30 minutes of user behavior recordings in the Horizon Worlds app.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said: “When Facebook launched the Metaverse for Oculus, just in time for the holiday shopping season, the CEO promised that privacy and security are at the heart of Virtual Reality.

“But our researchers found that, contrary to its promises, Metaverse is a haven for hate, pornography and child grooming.”

Last month, police investigated the case of a young British girl who was attacked by a gang of young men in virtual reality.

Rapes have also been reported on other “metaverse” platforms such as Roblox, which is used by millions of children.

In June 2018, Amber Petersen's seven-year-old daughter was “violently raped” by two avatars who grabbed her and forced the avatar to participate in simulated sexual acts.

SumOfUs, a non-profit organization, released a report in May 2022 on the problems of hate speech and sexual assault in Horizon Worlds.

The organization's 21-year-old researcher was attacked within an hour of using the platform.

The unnamed researcher said: 'It happened so quickly that I kind of distanced myself from it. Part of my brain was thinking, what's going on, the other part was saying, this isn't a real body, and another part was saying, this is important research.'

Spaces like Horizon Worlds also have areas dedicated to sex and drugs – and minors can access them, according to the Center for Digital Hate.

In Roblox, adults create “condo” rooms for sex games, sharing videos of avatars having sex on porn sites.

Roblox itself bans 'condo' games and cracks down on them when they appear.

A Meta spokesperson emphasized that the researcher had not enabled the Personal Boundary feature – a safety tool that is enabled by default and prevents non-friends from coming within three feet of your avatar.

Meta points out that there are numerous privacy tools built into the Horizon Worlds platform, including options to disable other players' voices.

A spokesperson for Meta said: ''The type of behavior described does not fit our platform. That's why we have an automatic protection for all Meta Horizon Worlds users, the so-called personal boundary, which keeps people you don't know at a few meters distance. You.

“We want everyone who uses our services to have a good experience and easily find the tools that can help prevent these types of situations so we can investigate and take action.”

Attackers in the metaverse feel a “disconnect” between their actions and consequences, Marr says, but the psychological impact on victims can be “profound.”

“The perpetrators of these virtual attacks are often regular users of the metaverse, hiding behind the anonymity and freedom that digital space offers,” Marr said.

This anonymity can lead to a disconnect between actions and consequences, allowing individuals to engage in behavior that is socially unacceptable or criminal in the real world.

“The psychological impact on victims is profound, highlighting the need for accountability in these virtual realms.”

Marr also noted that lawmakers need to address this issue, as do metaverse platforms.

“Addressing these issues in the metaverse is of paramount importance. As technology advances, virtual experiences will become more immersive and indistinguishable from reality,” he continued.

'The psychological effects of virtual attacks, as evidenced by recent incidents, are real and harmful.

'New laws must recognize that virtual actions can cause real psychological damage. This challenges lawmakers to redefine violence in the context of increasingly tangible virtual experiences.

'Lawmakers face the complex task of crafting legislation that addresses physical violence in a non-physical space.

'This requires a paradigm shift in legal thinking, recognizing that psychological harm in the virtual world can be just as impactful as physical harm in the real world.

'Laws must evolve to account for the unique nature of virtual interactions, especially as technology such as haptic suits makes these experiences more physically tangible.

'International cooperation and a multidisciplinary approach are crucial in shaping these new legal frameworks.'

CYBERSECURITY experts have warned of a dangerous malware that has resurfaced.

After a nine-month absence, malicious software called TA866 is now back.

1

The malware was spotted back in action by cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint.

Proofpoint says TA866 has sent several thousand emails with topics like “Project Achievements” to targets in North America.

The emails contained a PDF attachment with OneDrive URLs and looked like this: “Document_[10 digits].prf”

When clicked, these links initiated “a multi-step infection chain that ultimately led to the malware payload,” Proofpoint said in its report. report.

Malware is a malicious file or code that can infect your smartphone, desktop or laptop.

This software can steal sensitive information from your devices, including bank accounts.

This particular malware is a variant of the WasabiSeed and Screenshotter custom toolset.

In short, TA866 can spy on victims' activities through screenshots before installing a bot and stealer.

The malware has been active since October 2022 and persisted until January 2023, and now until 2024.

Proofpoint observed campaigns that mainly targeted organizations in the United States.

However, researchers also noted sporadic attacks in countries such as Germany.

HOW TO STAY SAFE

For starters, it's important that you always keep your device up to date with the latest software.

These updates provide patches that can fix vulnerabilities that malware can exploit.

You should also avoid installing apps from unofficial system stores, and even then, do your research.

Furthermore, you should never download anything from strange emails, pop-up windows, or suspicious-looking websites.

It is also important to install an antivirus program on your device so that it can scan for malware.

Nishimura Mako is a petite woman in her late fifties, with wavy hair and a delicate face.

But you soon notice that she is not a traditional Japanese lady; she is tattooed up to her neck and hands and her little finger is missing.

These are signs of ties to the yakuza, Japan's infamous criminal syndicates.

The yakuza is male-dominated and leaves only informal roles to women. A woman involved in the yakuza may typically be an anesan, the wife of a boss who cares for young relatives and mediates between them and her husband.

Women and partners of the members support the group in a peripheral way. Some become involved to the extent of managing yakuza clubs or dealing drugs.

When I interviewed Nishimura Recently, as part of my research, she told me that when she became involved in the yakuza at age 20, she took on both roles.

But she went one step further: Nishimura is the only woman to ever participate in the sakazuki sake cup-exchanging ceremony. This is the ritual that confirms the formal bond with a yakuza group.

Nishimura was born into a strict family of government officials and had a strict childhood. Her memories revolve around her authoritarian father and the bamboo stick he used to discipline her.

During high school, she felt the urge to escape her family's yoke, so she befriended unruly peers—and eventually motorcycle gangs (bōsozoku) who taught her how to fight.

This rebellious streak led her to a young yakuza member, who took her under his wing and showed her how to collect protection money, resolve disputes, commit blackmail, and scout girls for prostitution.

Her life took a turn when she got a call one evening: her friend was in a fight and needed help. She ran to help and used a bat to turn the scene into a massacre.

This caught the attention of the boss of the local yakuza group, who called her into his office. She told me that she remembers his words to this day: “Even if you are a woman, you have to become a yakuza.”

By then, she had been in juvenile detention several times and her family had abandoned their attempts to save her.

She accepted the boss's invitation and began living the rigorous life of a yakuza trainee.

She joined a cohort of male recruits, performing daily tasks and eventually participating in the group's criminal activities.

She eventually underwent the sakazuki ceremony, wearing a male kimono, and vowed her life to the path of the yakuza.

As an affiliate, she ran prostitution and drug businesses, collected debts and mediated disputes between rival groups.

When she cut off her own little finger to apologize for a collective mistake in a ritual known as yubitsume, she realized she had a talent for it.

Members who could not perform the amputation themselves asked Nishimura to do it for them, earning her the nickname “master of finger snapping.”

But disillusionment set in as Nishimura reached her 30s, when meth became her group's main trade and her own addiction began to take a heavy toll.

She ran away and ironically continued to run her meth business independently. She was kicked out of the group for this.

At this point she began a relationship with a member of a rival group, and a pregnancy led her to cut ties with the yakuza world in exchange for a quiet life raising her child.

But despite her efforts, her yakuza past – marked by her tattoos – kept her from getting a regular job. She married the father of her child, now a yakuza boss, and returned to prostitution businesses and drug trafficking.

After a second pregnancy, fights with her husband became increasingly violent, to the point where the police were called as soon as there was an outbreak. They eventually divorced and he took custody of the two sons.

She rejoined her old group, but meth had changed hands which she loved, and within two years she left for good.

Nishimura lived as a male yakuza and retired as one. She found a job in the demolition industry and a modest home where she now lives alone.

She lives a quiet life, trying to be accepted by the community and help others. With the help of Mr. Fujimoto, a former yakuza himself, she also runs a chapter of Gojinkai, a charity dedicated to providing housing and assistance to former yakuza members, ex-convicts and addicts.

She says, 'My day is not complete if I don't come here in the evening.' They gather around a table to talk about the past, current difficulties, and to check in on each other. She is still the only woman at the table.

She emphasizes that what earned her respect in an all-male world is her capacity for violence: “I was good at fighting, I never lost to a man.”

But Nishimura doesn't want to be a feminist icon: she didn't set out to break gender stereotypes or announce herself as the only female yakuza.

There have been other women – such as Taoka Fumiko, widow of a yakuza boss – who, although not formally associated, have had a significant impact in the history of the yakuza.

But no one went the extra mile like Nishimura and became a fully sworn member with the cut off little finger.

Her story redefines the boundaries of gender roles and loyalty in the ruthless world of Japanese organized crime – a unique journey of identity and belonging.

A teenage girl who died from a heroin injection, an aborted foetus taken by police without the mother’s knowledge and another child made to act like a dog in a cage are just some of the horror stories brought about by Rochdale’s grooming gangs.

Dozens of young girls were targeted, abused and raped by gangs of mainly Asian men between 2004 and 2012 in the Greater Manchester town, with police and council bosses failing to investigate credible evidence.

A new report published today revealed the plight faced by the girls who were the subject of this abuse and the struggle they faced to be believed, as well as the harassment when they gave evidence against their abusers.

The damning dossier, which has identified 96 men who are still deemed a potential risk to children, has sparked calls from whistleblowers that there is ‘categorically’ still grooming taking place in the town.

The report makes for distressing reading, revealing the heartbreaking stories of just some of the victims of the depraved gangs of men, many of whom are yet to be brought to justice for their crimes.

It also emerged today that:

• A pair of ‘lone voices’ had flagged clear evidence of ‘prolific serial rape of countless children in Rochdale’ which wasn’t acted upon
• Many abusers continue to walk free, with 96 men identified as a potential risk to children;
• Abuse is ‘categorically’ still happening in Rochdale, a detective-turned-campaigner said;
• Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham apologised for the ‘detailed and distressing’ 

Among the cases touched upon on in the report is the tragic death of 15-year-old Victoria Agoglia, who passed away after taking a heroin overdose in 2003.

In a letter sent to police, the girl revealed how she was sleeping with ‘people older’ than her and ‘ half of them I don’t even know their names. I am a slag.’

She went on: ‘I think it I did it just to impress the boys and they treated me like ****. All the things I lost for drugs. Boys, my family, I lost all of that.’

Vulnerable Victoria, who ran away from her terraced home 21 times in the space of two months in the lead-up to her death, had been raped and was known by her carers to be used for sex by older men in exchange for cash, alcohol and hard drugs.

In September 2003 she visited the home of a 50-year-old Asian man – Mohammed Yaqoob – who injected her with heroin. She died in hospital five days later. He was later jailed for three and half years for injecting her with a noxious substance after being cleared of manslaughter.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police to go public with her views on grooming gangs, revealed the letter Victoria wrote was included in a police report which was never acted on.

Ms Oliver wrote the report, which even started with a picture of Victoria and her letter in a bid to highlight her case, after launching Operation Augusta in 2004 which set out to investigate the Rochdale child abuse ring.

But shockingly the investigation was quietly shelved by police bosses while Ms Oliver was on a three-month break.

It wasn’t until eight years later that the beasts behind the operation which saw girls plied with alcohol and drugs before being used as sex slaves came to justice. 

While the new report focused on events taking place from a year after Victoria’s death, it concluded that lessons were not learned from her death or the resulting Operation Augusta, in which just two of almost 100 suspects were jailed. 

That was despite an investigation into her death revealing 57 victims of grooming gangs, some as young as 12 years old.

One case highlighted by the report is that of Child 44, a teenage girl who had an abortion after being abused at the age of 13 in 2009.

It was revealed that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) secretly took the foetus and performed a DNA test on it to try and link it to possible suspects.

However, when no matches came up, it was left in a freezer at Rochdale police station and was only found when it was uncovered in a ‘routine property review’.

The girl who had the abortion would only find out in 2011 that it had been taken by the police, with the moment she found out emotionally being reenacted in the BBC drama ‘Three Girls’.

She told the authors of the 173-page report that police had ‘robbed’ her of her unborn child and said it was ‘disgusting’ police had done so without her consent.

In the meantime she had continued to be abused by a grooming gang and at one point was even at risk of being taken to Pakistan by them.

A trial involving the men who abused her eventually took place in 2012, but the girl would find out in the lead-up to this that the man who got her pregnant was not to be charged with her rape. 

He was instead jailed for eight years for conspiracy and trafficking for sexual exploitation, allowing him to be released four years into his sentence, reports the Guardian.

Things got worse for Child 44, as she reported being threatened by a man with a gun before the trial and being harassed and abused on the street by supporters of the men who raped and abused her.

The girl, who even bumped into her abuser in a supermarket after he was released from prison without her being informed, said police told her to just ‘lock your door’ when she asked for help about the harassment.

Another girl who also gave evidence against her abusers reported that her house was ‘trashed, with slag and grass written across the wall’, while her shed was burned down and chickens killed in a campaign of harassment.

The damning dossier also claims that no action was taken against a ‘pimp’ who got a 15-year-old girl pregnant, while another child claimed she was kept locked in cages and made to act like a dog or baby, with again, no action being taken against the men allegedly involved.

The report is the third of four written by child protection specialist Malcolm Newsam CBE and former senior police officer Gary Ridgway – and saw apologies this morning from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council.

The authors previously led a review of Operation Augusta, an investigation into grooming gangs in South Manchester, which was published in 2020, and the review into child safeguarding practices in Oldham, published in 2022.

It followed criticism of failings within Rochdale Council and Greater Manchester Police aired in BBC documentary, Betrayed Girls.

The report considered claims by Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of a young people’s Crisis Intervention Team, and Maggie Oliver, former Detective Constable involved with the first large-scale investigation into grooming in Rochdale, Operation Span, launched in 2010.

It found that the pair of ‘lone voices’ had flagged clear evidence of ‘prolific serial rape of countless children in Rochdale’ but that this was not acted upon, with the children’s unwillingness to make a formal complaint repeatedly used as an excuse for not investigating.

Mr Newsam, lead author, said: ‘GMP and Rochdale Council failed to prioritise the protection of children who were being sexually exploited by a significant number of men within the Rochdale area.

‘This review was initiated following the serious allegations made by both Maggie Oliver and Sara Rowbotham and we have found through this review their allegations to be substantiated.

‘Both GMP and Rochdale Council failed to respond appropriately to these concerns.

‘Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation.

‘Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.’

Mr Newsam and Mr Ridgway said: ‘CSE continued to be treated as a low priority and under-resourced by GMP.’

By October 2012, a review group chaired by GMP identified 127 potential victims whose cases had not been acted on – a figure which later grew to 260 potential victims.

After Operation Span, three more investigations – Operation Routh, Operation Doublet and Operation Lytton – saw 30 men convicted, many of whom received lengthy sentences.

Files held by officials for 111 children revealed ‘a significant probability that 74 of these children were being sexually exploited at that time, and in 48 of those cases, there were serious failures to protect the child’, the report revealed.

A fourth review is still to take place by Mr Newsam and Mr Ridgway, which is to ‘consider current practice across Greater Manchester to address the risk of child sexual exploitation’ and recent police investigations.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham called the report ‘a detailed and distressing account of how many young people were so seriously failed’.

He added: ‘That said, it fulfils the purpose of why I set up this review in the first place.

‘It is only by facing up fully and unflinchingly to what happened that we can be sure of bringing the whole system culture change needed when it comes to protecting children from abuse.’

He apologised to the victims and said: ‘We are sorry that you were so badly failed by the system that should have protected them.

‘I have asked Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council to ensure that every possible action is taken to follow up any leads arising from this report and to pursue any potential perpetrators.’

A series of initiatives have taken place around Rochdale since 2012, including better engagement with potential victims and a scheme encouraging hotel owners and taxi firms to report concerns.

Last year, an Ofsted report regarding Rochdale Council – including the Complex Safeguarding Hub – was published and confirmed that ‘children at risk receive an effective response’.

Rochdale Council leader Councillor Neil Emmott said the authority is ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘very serious failures that affected the lives of children in our borough’ and how officials ‘failed to take the necessary action’.

And Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: ‘It remains to be a matter of profound regret that victims of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale in the early 2000s were failed by Greater Manchester Police – to them, I apologise.

‘I also recognise the plight of Maggie Oliver and Sara Rowbotham – who advocated for victims and survivors when no one else did, and ultimately enabled the review and publication of this report.’

He added: ‘Since nine men were convicted following Operation Span in 2012, there have been a further 135 arrests, 432 charges, and 32 convictions (for child sex grooming).’

Ms Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 to publicly reveal the extent of the police failings about child sexual exploitation, said she remained ‘angry’ that ‘not one senior officer or official has ever been held individually responsible for these failures, lies and cover ups’.

She said the report ‘confirms the truth of what I have been saying for over 12 years’.

Drawing a parallel with the ongoing Horizon scandal at the Post Office, she added: ‘There are so many parallels between that case and this: ‘ordinary’ people being criminalised and silenced, institutional cover ups and corruption in an effort to protect the brand whatever the cost to affected individuals, refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing.’

She added: ‘I am also not assured that lessons have been learned. I can absolutely, categorically say that through our work today at The Maggie Oliver Foundation (a support group she founded), we see on a daily basis that victims and survivors of sexual offences are still routinely treated badly or even inhumanely, still not believed, still judged, still dismissed when they report these horrendous crimes.’

The report’s publication comes a year after an independent review into child sexual exploitation in neighbouring Oldham found the ringleader of a notorious grooming gang, Shabir Ahmed, later jailed for 22 years, was able to continue working as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council with police failing to tell his employers even after his arrest.

It is not the first official report into child sex exploitation in Rochdale – a report in 2013 found that hundreds of young girls were allowed to fall into the hands of Asian grooming gangs because police and social workers may have been scared of seeming racist.

They refused to believe that race was an issue even though dozens of young, white girls were being specifically targeted and groomed for sex by older Pakistani men.

Children in the town of Rochdale were let down by all 17 agencies that were meant to protect them, the report said.

Police dismissed accusations of political correctness, saying the girls were targeted because they were vulnerable, not because they were white – but a review into the scandal said there was a ‘colour-blind’ approach by police and social workers that was ‘potentially dangerous’.

Ecuadorian soldiers are rounding-up and viciously beating suspected gang members, video appears to show, as cartels paraded hostages, executed cops and declared war – plunging the South America nation into lawless chaos.

Ecuador’s president has ordered his army to ‘neutralise’ 20 drug gangs after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a TV studio and inmates executed prison guards following the escape of one of Ecuador’s most powerful narco bosses, ‘Fito’.

Gruesome footage has emerged from the country over the last two days, with gang members shown purportedly executing police officers and prison guards.

And as the military carries out its orders to crack down on the violence, another clip appeared to show an armed Ecuadorian soldier kicking a man, thought to be a suspected gangster, repeatedly in the head while in the back of a truck.

At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on gangs – eight in Guayaquil, and two ‘viciously murdered by armed criminals’ in the nearby town of Nobol, police said Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Ecuador, at least seven police officers were kidnapped. 

The toll could well be higher. Past gang violence in the country, particularly in prisons, has seen tens if not hundreds of people killed in single incidents.

Gangs assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August last year and set off car bombs in front of government buildings.

However, one analyst – speaking to the Associated Press – has said Tuesday’s events marked a new peak in violence. ‘This is a turning point,’ Will Freeman, a political analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations told the news agency.

‘Depending on how the government responds, it will set the precedent for these kinds of incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make some very necessary structural reforms so that the state can start to win its war against crime.’ 

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as rival gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The nation erupted into a deadly ‘civil war’ on Tuesday when, in the port city of Guayaquil, men wearing balaclavas and waving weapons stormed a state-owned TV station during a live broadcast, taking several journalists and staff members hostage.

Elsewhere, the crazed criminals took scores of police officers hostage during their deadly rampage that saw explosions tear through Ecuador’s cities, with the mobsters declaring: ‘You declared war, you will get war’.

The gangs unleashed their fury after President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a countrywide state of emergency and nightly curfew following the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka ‘Fito’ – leader of Ecuador’s biggest gang Choneros – on Sunday. 

Harrowing video has shown gangsters holding terrified staff hostage for hours while pointing shotguns at their heads as they pleaded ‘please don’t shoot’.

Another clips showed the body of a man, said to be a police officer, lying on the side of the road in a pool of blood. He appeared to have been shot in the head.

Further terrifying footage showed three kidnapped officers sitting at the ground with a gun pointed at them as one visibly terrified policeman read a statement that read: ‘You declared war, you will get war. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.’ 

The statement added anyone found on the street after 11pm ‘will be executed’. 

Another video showed a group of what appeared to be prison guards being held hostage by masked inmates wielding machetes and knives, with one of the uniformed men sitting at a table, also reading a statement. The prisoners held the blades to the throats of the guards, most of whom were sat on the floor.

In response to the horrific violence, President Noboa has ordered the army to ‘neutralise’ criminal gangs after the gangsters declared war, with the violence threatening to spill over into Peru.

Admiral Jaime Vela, head of Ecuador’s Joint Command of the Armed Forces, has described gangs as terror groups and said they are ‘military objectives’.

The crisis was sparked by the escape of Adolfo ‘Fito’ Macías, 44, the leader of Los Choneros gang, from his cell in a low security prison on Sunday.

The government declared a state of emergency and nightly curfew as they launched a manhunt for the gang leader. 

In response to the state of emergency, gangs retaliated by taking police officers hostage, rampaging through a university and storming a TV studio. 

Masked men armed with pistols and bombs broke onto the set of the TC Television network during a live broadcast on Tuesday, unleashing 30 minutes of threats and terror. 

First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV station’s live transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third and more. With the show’s ‘After the News’ title behind them, station employees were brought onto the set and ordered to lie down. 

Screams could be heard followed by the sound of gunshots in the terrifying footage. 

‘We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia,’ one of the assailants is heard saying. 

Hooded attackers fired gunshots during the live TC broadcast as a woman could be heard pleading: ‘Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot.’

The intruders forced terrified crew onto the ground and a person could be heard screaming as the studio lights went out but the broadcast continued.

Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, was ordered to get on the floor.

‘They aimed the gun at my head,’ she said. ‘I thought about my entire life, about my two children.’

Manrique said some of the assailants ran from the studio and tried to hide when they realized they were surrounded by police.

‘I am still in shock,’ she said. ‘Everything has collapsed. – All I know is that it’s time to leave this country and go very far away.’

Police entered the studio after about 30 minutes of chaos and authorities later said that all the masked intruders had been arrested, 13 in all, and would be charged with terrorism. No one was hurt in the attack.

President Noboa, 36, who was elected last year on a pledge to fight drug-related violence, later ordered the military operations against gangs he described as ‘terrorist organisations and belligerent non-state actors.’

Afterwards, the head of the Armed Forces Joint Command said the attacks were the gangs’ reactions to the government’s moves against them.

‘They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population,’ Adm. Jaime Vela told journalists, describing the attacks as ‘unprecedented’ in Ecuador’s history.

The government has said at least 30 attacks have taken place since authorities announced that Los Choneros gang leader Macías was discovered missing from his cell in a low-security prison Sunday. He was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility that day.  

Ecuadorean officials on Tuesday announced that another gang leader, Fabricio Colón Pico of the Los Lobos group, had escaped from a prison in the town of Riobamba. Colón Pico was captured on Friday as part of a kidnapping investigation and has also been accused of trying to murder one of the nation’s lead prosecutors.

Authorities reported multiple explosions and cars set alight on Tuesday, including in the capital Quito, and said seven police officers had been kidnapped.

There was panic on the streets, with shops and businesses in various cities closing early and residents rushing home as face-to-face classes were suspended nationwide until Friday.

Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said Washington was ‘extremely concerned’ by the violence and kidnappings, and pledged to provide assistance and ‘remain in close contact’ with Noboa’s team.

Peru on Tuesday put its border with Ecuador under a state of emergency, with the government deploying special forces to the border. 

China’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador announced on Wednesday that services to the public were suspended.

‘The reopening to the public will be announced in due course,’ the embassy said in a statement shared on Chinese social media.

Chile, Colombia and Brazil sent messages of support for Noboa on Tuesday.

A manhunt is under way for Fito, who had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

The 44-year-old is believed to have escaped just hours before police arrived to conduct an inspection of the Guayaquil prison where he was held.

On Tuesday, officials said another narco boss – Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico – also escaped since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador’s attorney general.

Unrest has broken out at several penitentiaries, and on Tuesday the SNAI prisons authority said 125 guards and 14 administrative officers were being held by inmates in five cities.

Unverified videos circulating on social media purported to show captives armed with knives executing at least two guards. The SNAI has not commented on the images.

The security forces in turn have sent out videos of numerous prison raids since Sunday, with hundreds of inmates amassed in courtyards in their underwear, hands on their heads.

Noboa had vowed on Monday to ‘not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans.’

Drug violence has taken a heavy toll on the South American country since it became a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022 and a record 220 tons of drugs were seized last year.

Since February 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burnt alive.