A THINK tank has claimed 84 per cent of people convicted of child sex grooming gang offences in the UK since 2005 were Asian.

In a new study, the Quilliam Foundation says its British-Pakistani researchers also discovered differences between the way paedophiles from different backgrounds operated.

2 Credit: Newcastle police

It said while white sex offenders often acted alone, child abusers from Asian backgrounds were more likely to work in so-called grooming gangs.

According to figures released by the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP), 100 per cent of offenders in paedophile rings were white.

The Quilliam organisation, which usually focuses on counter-extremism, said it found 222 of 264, or 84 per cent, of people convicted of specific grooming-gang crimes since 2005 were Asian.

The report’s co-author, Haras Rafiq, is from Rochdale, where 19 British-Pakistani men were jailed between 2012 and 2015. The high-profile grooming ring is thought to have abused at least 47 girls.

2 Questions have been raised about the connections between ethnicity and offenders Credit: Getty - Contributor

Police believe they have exposed a new grooming gang in London as officers warn widespread abuse is taking place across the country.

The news comes as it was revealed tonight, four girls between the age of 13 and 15 have reported being raped by a group based around a McDonald’s in Stratford, east London.

Detectives believe the number will grow as they appeal for others to come forward, after arresting three boys and three men from an alleged "grooming gang." The ethnicity of those arrested has not been released by police.

Detective Inspector Laura Hillier, of the Metropolitan Police’s sexual exploitation team, said an operation codenamed Grandbye was launched after the four victims came forward separately in Newham.

Trailer for BBC's Three Girls - drama based on grooming and sexual abuse in Rochdale

“They had all been met by males at the McDonald’s on the Broadway in Stratford and been taken to different places where they were sexually assaulted,” she told The Independent.

“We think the scale of it is wider than initially thought – the number of victims could increase.”

Elsewhere, in a number of cities across the UK, gangs of predominantly British Pakistani men have been convicted for targeting vulnerable white young women and girls.

In Newcastle, 18 people - nearly all men of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin - were convicted of grooming in August this year.

Questions have been raised about the connections between ethnicity and the offenders, and two British-Pakistani researchers from the Quilliam Foundation insist the link is important.

Mr Rafiq told Sky News: "I'm from the heart of where one of the biggest high profile cases have happened over the last few years, and I'm saying it's very important that we do talk about it because the problem won't go away," he said.

Eighteen people found guilty over Newcastle sex grooming network

"We didn't want there to be a pattern of people from our ethnic demographic carrying out these attacks. But unfortunately we were proven wrong."

High profile cases like Rochdale have generated negative headlines about the Asian community.

The most recent case in Newcastle changed the debate after 17 men and one woman were convicted of nearly 100 offences, and the judge said the grooming wasn't racially motivated.

Following the judgment, Mike Penning MP wrote to the Attorney General calling for a review.

Nazir Afzal, credited with tackling the issue during his time as Chief Crown Prosecutor in the North West, warned the issue of "Asian" grooming gangs is being used as a recruitment tool by the far-right.

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Mr Afzal also warned gang grooming was not the most common form of child sexual abuse.

"British white men they tend to work individually. They tend to work online where they groom and they are the majority of perpetrators. When it comes to Asian men or Pakistani men they tend to do it in groups," Mr Afzal said.

Some researchers also said the data’s sample size had been too small and more research needed to be conducted.

In an inquiry by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 2012, 36 per cent of victims of group or gang child abuse identified their attackers as white, 27 per cent as Asian, 16 per cent as black, with 16 per cent unspecified.