Newspaper review: Papers analyse Oxford grooming abuse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22535694

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Several papers lead on the convictions of seven members of a gang based in Oxford who raped and trafficked girls as young as 11.

Most have pictures of the gang members, alongside accounts of horrific abuse suffered by their victims.

The Guardian's crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, asks: "Is there something about Asian Muslim men that leads to them being disproportionately involved in the grooming and sexual abuse of white girls."

He says one senior source involved in bringing the criminals to justice has suggested that young vulnerable girls migrate to what is described as the "night time economy" - where they encounter taxi drivers and people working in takeaways, who are more likely to be Asian.

The Independent calls the case a "damning indictment of modern Britain". It says sensitivities over race should not be allowed to take precedence over children's safety.

Oil probe

The Daily Mail has what it says is the first picture of water cannon, ready for use on the streets of Britain this summer.

Two years on from the riots that scarred the country, it reports that hundreds of police are training at a secret location with a fearsome new deterrent.

It says the German-made vehicle is at a Hampshire army base. The £1.3m machine apparently holds 9,000 litres of water and has a high-pressure cannon that can fire up to 1,100 litres a second.

It is also equipped with floodlights and bullet proof glass, and can fire CS gas and coloured dye so rioters can be identified later.

For the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and the Independent, the main news is the European Commission investigation into possible price fixing by oil companies.

The Telegraph says motorists may have paid thousands of pounds too much for their fuel over the past decade.

A spokesman for the AA tells the Mail it has been warning since 2005 about the activity of speculation in the oil and fuel markets - and "the lid is about to be blown off".

Playground jibe

There are lots of pictures of Coronation Street actor Bill Roache arriving at Preston Magistrates' Court where he faced two charges of raping a 15-year-old girl in the 1960s.

The Daily Mirror has a picture of him adjusting his tie, surrounded by press and television photographers. It says he pulled up in a black Mercedes flanked by guards and calmly signed autographs.

It is the lead in the Daily Star which calls him a "Corrie legend".

The Daily Mail describes him as the "star of his own court drama". When he arrived at court, the paper says, he seemed determined to play the celebrity - but once inside the wood-panelled room, he was simply "the accused".

He strenuously denies the charges.

Finally, the Daily Telegraph tells how a Roman Catholic primary school in south London called in gay rights charity Stonewall to lead a staff training day - after a five-year-old boy called another pupil's shoes "gay".

The playground jibe was reported to the head teacher who decided it amounted to homophobic abuse.

The paper says St Mary's in Wimbledon is now the first and only Catholic primary school in the country to be listed as a Stonewall Primary School Champion of gay equality.