The sexual exploitation and grooming of young vulnerable white girls is a particular problem in Asian communities, one of Britain's top prosecutors has admitted

In a year when several paedophile gangs were convicted of raping and prostituting victims in north west England, Nazir Afzal says that it is impossible not to notice that the perpetrators were Asian and the victims were not. The Chief Crown Prosecutor for the region added that cultural baggage and the status of women among some men in these communities contributes to their lack of respect for the rights of women. It was claimed recently that fears they would be branded racist meant that police and social services left one group free to rape up to 50 white girls. In these disturbing recent cases most victims were white, aged between 13 and 16, many were from vulnerable backgrounds or the care system, and the majority were plied with booze and drugs before being systematically abused. Afzal said: "Exploitation happens in every community but these cases demonstrate that group grooming is a particular problem in Asian community. I will not turn a blind eye to crimes in any community." Recently two Asian men, Mahfuzur Rahman and Abdul Hannan, have been convicted of raping or sexually assaulting four young white women in their area after they picked them up and got them drunk. In an originally botched prosecution in 2009, victims gave detailed evidence about being violently raped by Rahman before charges were dropped because evidence was said to lack credibility. Once the case was abandoned, Rahman was free to target a 17-year-old from a nearby children's home, plying her with vodka before sexually assaulting her at his flat. His other victims were also violently raped or assaulted while very drunk. And when he was finally arrested and charged with rape again individuals close to the case said that Rahman told officers: "Rape? Which one?" Recently a sex grooming gang of nine were all jailed, and two set to be deported, after they plied teenagers with alcohol before abusing them in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The men - who are all from Pakistan, apart from one who is from Afghanistan - groomed and shared the young white girls because they were vulnerable, and abused them above takeaways and shops. But during the trial it came out that the authorities could have stopped them two years before their sickening crimes were finally uncovered. Former Labor MP for Keighley Ann Cryer, who has campaigned on the issue of Asian sex gangs and also preventing forced marriage, said that the authorities did ignore complaints in this case because they were petrified of being called racist. "Forces have been accused of being institutionally racist. That sort of thing sticks," she added.