Revealed: Retired police officer claims he was threatened with arrest amid abuse gangs investigation

Bradford. Again. From GB News

A former senior police officer has claimed that he was threatened with arrest after he presented a lengthy investigation into child sexual exploitation in Bradford.

John Piekos, a retired detective chief inspector, started working for an anti-trafficking charity in 2008 after leaving Greater Manchester Police, where he had dealt with exploitation in Oldham.

In an exclusive interview … he said that he staked out a children’s home with a colleague in Bradford for three months, where he recorded multiple incidents of grooming and children going missing.

GB news has spoken to his work partner from this period who reaffirmed Piekos’s testimony.

In an emotional exchange, Piekos explain how on one occasion, they followed a car after it had collected a girl from the children’s home late at night.

“We couldn’t see the girl in the passenger seat of the vehicle. We thought that she had got out and walked down on the opposite side of the road. There were no shops, there was nowhere to go. Yet the girls wasn’t in the car. I walked straight past. And as I walked back, I saw her head pop up from the driver’s side of the vehicle, her little head came up from his lap.”

Piekos said that his church-funded charity reached out to contacts in the area, including the Bishop of Bradford, to organise a meeting with charities and police officers where they could share their findings.

The Diocese of Leeds said it was unable to find out more details from anyone who worked for the then-bishop at the time.

The retired copper told GB News that the day after he attended a meeting with a senior member of town’s social services, (Bradford Town Hall right, with Ramadan Pavilion) where she was joined by a “uniformed Chief Inspector.” Describing him as a threat, Piekos claimed that she said: “If you continue to follow our children, I’m going to have you arrested.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “We have searched our systems and can find no meeting or report of child sexual exploitation made by this person.

In the interview he said he received a phone call from a police officer, now senior in Bradford whose voice he recognised from elsewhere. 

He said “John. What you doing? Don’t you realise how much work our officers have put into stabilising this community and what you are doing is likely to create a massive right-wing backlash that will burn parts of our town. Don’t you see what you are doing?”

This is repeated in the X tweets of Charlie Peters the GB news reporter who interviewed Mr Piekos.

Bradford Council was contacted for comment.

Meanwhile

1. West Yorkshire police have announced another 13 arrests recently for historic child sex abuse.