Ukip accused of resorting to British National party-style tactics while campaigning to win Heywood and Middleton byelection

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The father of the main prosecution witness in Britain’s biggest child sex grooming scandal has accused Nigel Farage of exploiting the issue for political gain as the UK Independence party attempts to unseat Labour in a Manchester byelection.

The man, known as Tom, whose daughter’s testimony led to the prosecution of nine Asian men and an overhaul of Crown Prosecution Service rules, said that the anti-federalist party had resorted to British National party-style tactics while campaigning to win Heywood and Middleton in Greater Manchester.

The town of Heywood, where Tom lives, was at the centre of the Rochdale scandal, after a sex-trafficking gang of men of mainly Pakistani origin were found to have preyed on at least 47 girls, all of whom were white.

Statements issued by Farage and leaflets distributed by his party have blamed Labour’s “love affair” with “immigration, political correctness and multiculturalism” for the betrayal of “white working-class girls”.

The byelection, due to be held on 9 October, was triggered when the veteran Labour MP Jim Dobbin died this month. Labour figures are concerned that Ukip could overturn the party’s 5,500 majority.

Tom said Farage should stop adding to the distress of local families. “I find it abhorrent that Ukip are trying to make political gains from this and use it as a tool. It is not what my family wants.

“Ukip have rarely mentioned child abuse before they came here. It is obvious why they are mentioning it now. It’s for the game.”

Farage visited the constituency this month and told the media: “Just look at the local grooming scandal. This is a prime example of the local authority failing to protect vulnerable residents because the people in power were more afraid of being seen as racist.”

Two leaflets distributed by the party in the campaign have highlighted the grooming scandal as evidence of Labour’s “betrayal of the working classes because of political correctness”.

Tom was moved to speak to the Guardian about Ukip’s tactics after receiving the leaflets through this door. To heap blame on “political correctness” did not fully explain the many reasons why the abuse was allowed to continue, he said. “Its a complex issue about the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and social services, all turning a blind eye. It’s not all about political correctness, although it was a factor.”

Tom moved to an estate in Heywood during the credit crunch.

He first noticed that his eldest daughter, when she was 14, was becoming difficult and unruly. Over a matter of weeks, her behaviour declined as she began to swear and occasionally came home drunk.

In August of that year, Tom and his wife were told by police that their daughter had damaged a restaurant.

While being interviewed, she told detectives how she had been plied with drugs and drink and repeatedly raped by men of Pakistani origin.

She told the detectives that the perpetrators worked in the takeaway trade or as taxi drivers. The gang offered gifts to girls, won their trust and then forced them to have sex.

Some victims were driven between Rochdale, Oldham, Bradford and elsewhere to have sex with men for money.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute in 2009 despite DNA evidence linking the 56-year-old owner of a local kebab shop to the rape of Tom’s daughter. Prosecutors said at the time they doubted whether the girl would be a credible witness.

Distressed by the CPS’s decision, Tom felt drawn to the British National party. He was convinced that they could offer a valid explanation for his daughter’s abuse – that Pakistani men had been allowed to get away with this because of political correctness. However, he soon found he could no longer stomach their hatred of people based on race.

He said: “My mother suffered from Alzheimers but every time she went wandering off, it was Pakistani people who brought her home. You don’t forget that.”

The language that Tom heard used by the BNP was now being used by Farage, he said. “They are the same tactics. Farage doesn’t blame the race of people, he gives national attributes, he thinks that is okay. But there is a fine line.”

At the last election Ukip won just 1,200 votes in Heywood and Middleton, while the BNP received 3,000. With the collapse of the BNP as a party, Ukip can now expect to get most of the combined vote.

The Conservatives’ vote in 2010 was 27.2% of the electorate. Neither Labour nor Ukip expect the Tories to run a strong campaign, which could leave the way for a Ukip surge.

The party’s distinctive purple colour adorns its campaign headquarters on Heywood’s main street, a quarter of a mile from the kebab shop where Tom’s daughter was abused, and a mile from Tom’s home.

Ukip’s candidate, John Bickley, a businessman with historic connections to the area, acknowledged that the issue of grooming was an issue that regularly came up on the doorstep as he canvassed support for the party.

“It is an issue, but immigration and the fact that we are not part of the Westminster establishment are also big here,” he said, whilst pushing leaflets through the doors of houses.

A Survation poll commissioned by Ukip across the constituency has shown that immigration is the top political concern, their activists have claimed.

Labour insiders have grown increasingly concerned by the response they receive on the doorstep. Their candidate, Liz McInnes, a Unite member and NHS biochemist, is fighting her first byelection.

If Ukip’s tactics are successful, there are other seats linked to grooming in Rochdale, Derby, Manchester and Oxford, which would be seen vulnerable.

Toby Perkins, the MP for Chesterfield who successfully fought off a Ukip challenge from Bickley in a byelection in Wythenshawe this year, has taken charge of the campaign.

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale who has campaigned for greater transparency around child sex abuse, has been drafted in to help.

“Ukip are a genuine threat and people across the party are working hard to fight them street by street,” said Danczuk.

Following pressure on the CPS at the dropped prosecution, Tom’s daughter gave evidence against the gang in 2012 as witness A. Her testimony led to nine men being jailed for up to 21 years each for charges relating to grooming and the abuse of children. About a dozen more grooming cases involving gangs across the UK are under investigation.

Tom said that he continued to wrestle with the truth of his daughter’s abuse and the knowledge that other abusers had not been caught. “It is hard to go into town and not know if the bloke standing in front of you in a queue has raped your daughter,” he said.

His eldest daughter has moved away to study at university, and they talk everyday. He is glad she is not in Heywood to witness the current Ukip campaign.

“She has hope. We are not giving up,” he said.

Tom’s name has been changed to protect his daughter’s identity