Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of “turning a blind eye” to rape gangs in London after a new investigation claimed to find evidence of a “cover-up” in the capital.

The investigation, conducted by The Daily Express and My London, revealed young girls had been raped in hotels by groups of men.

However, Sir Sadiq was accused of ignoring concerns about grooming gangs operating in London following a spat with City Hall Conservative Susan Hall.

The details of at least six potential victims were documented in the pages of four different His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services reports from 2016 to 2025.

The cases ranged from a 15-year-old girl being raped by “numerous men” after going missing for four days to a 17-year-old being given alcohol before being raped by several men.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said: “There is real, credible evidence that grooming gangs exist in London, and for the Mayor to have potentially turned a blind eye is utterly shameful”.

The Metropolitan Police recently reversed its once-longstanding stance that it had “not seen” grooming gang cases in London.

Speaking to Assembly Members in City Hall, Sir Mark Rowley said that Scotland Yard had a “steady flow” of live multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations and a “very significant” number of cases that would need to be reinvestigated as a result of the Home Office’s grooming gangs review.

A spokesman for Sir Sadiq said: “The Mayor has always been clear that the safety of Londoners is his top priority and nowhere is this truer than in safeguarding children.

“Sadiq is committed to doing all he can to protect children in London from organised criminal and sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice.

“This includes his £15.6million Violence and Exploitation Support Service, which provides specialist support to young Londoners who are vulnerable, caught up in or being exploited by criminal gangs in the capital as well as supporting the Met to deliver a new child-first approach to safeguarding and enforcement action to tackle county lines.

“We remain vigilant to emerging and changing threats and will continue to do everything we can to protect children in the capital from abuse, violence and exploitation in all its forms.”

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Research shared with GB News highlighted grooming cases across the capital between 2013 and 2017.

Three men – Naeem Ahmed, Nabeel Ahmed and Hassan Raza – were convicted on counts of rape and sexual assault in 2013.

Meanwhile, four teenage girls reported being raped by men operating around a McDonald’s in Stratford in 2017.

At least 30 potential victims were identified as part of an investigation.

The probe, known as Operation Grandbye, was launched in response to reports, resulting in six arrests, though no charges came.

However, fresh revelations of grooming gangs operating in the capital come after Sir Sadiq locked horns with Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall earlier this year.

In a fiery exchange, the top London Tory asked: “Grooming gangs, that I would call rape gangs. Tell me about them. How many of those have we got? Not county lines. Those particular groups.”

Responding to Mrs Hall, Sir Sadiq replied: “To avoid any misunderstanding, can she define what she means by that?”

When Mrs Hall followed up by pointing out examples seen in Rotherham, the London Mayor said: “We know in London there are issues about exploitation of young people, but they are not as defined by the member in her definition of what those types of gangs are.”

He added: Just to avoid misunderstanding, what does she mean by that [grooming gangs]?”

Revelations about grooming gangs potentially operating in London come as Sir Keir Starmer’s Government faces mounting pressure to appoint a chair to lead its national inquiry.

A grooming gang victim walked away from the Home Office panel set up to look into a national inquiry this morning, citing her fears of being “silenced”.

In her letter of resignation, Fiona Goddard alleged the “secretive conduct and conditions imposed on survivors” on the Victims/Survivor Liaison Panel had led to a “toxic, fearful environment”.