Peter Jukes hides an inconvenient correction about his 'grooming gangs' claim.

The editor of Byline Times doesn't want you to know he's lying to you

Whatever your opinions on Elon Musk (and I have a few), it cannot be denied that his actions—whether you approve of them or not— have led to renewed interest, discussion and scrutiny surrounding what is referred to as the ‘grooming gang scandal’.

The ‘grooming gang scandal’ is a phrase used to describe what was the rape and torture of thousands of mostly-white girls in the UK at the hands of predominantly British-Pakistani gangs. As though the reality of these abhorrent crimes weren't bad enough, subsequent investigations revealed that those best placed to liberate and protect these girls looked the other way in the name of ‘cultural sensitivity’ and a fear of being branded ‘racist’.

And given ‘grooming gangs’ are once again part of our national discussion, it means we will once again encounter people who would rather we look anywhere other than the actual problem.

This brings me to Peter Jukes who is a journalist and the co-founder and executive editor of Byline Times. Jukes seized upon the renewed interest in the grooming gangs scandal to post a news article about a white grooming gang from Bolton. He added: “I can't qwhite [Quite/white] understand why this 'grooming gang' story has little coverage. Is the media suppressing someing [SIC]'“

The implication here is clear: There is a media conspiracy to supress charges of gang rape if the perpetrators happen to be white (or ‘qwhite’), and therefore the greater media interest in British-Pakistani grooming gangs is motivated by racism.

This is all objectively untrue of course. When charges were brought against this particular Bolton gang in 2023, it was reported by The BBC, ITV, The Independent, The Times, The Mirror, etc etc. But not The Byline Times, funnily enough.

It was even reported by The Daily Mail—a paper Jukes likely considers ground zero for the racist ‘suppression’ of white crimes he’s imagined. Thankfully, The Daily Mail helpfully included hi-resolution photographs of the pasty white suspects’ faces, so that people like Jukes can get enthusiastic about grooming gangs without any fear.

As a journalist, Jukes should also know that major media outlets tend to only report on court hearings when they involve significant testimony, rulings or verdicts —which is why the local newspaper he linked to, The Bolton News, was left to the task of providing the reporting from the latest hearing.

But, if he didn’t know—he does now, because I took the liberty of pointing it out to him on ‘X’, replying to his tweet with “Why are you lying? Every local and national news paper reported on it when they were charged in April 2023. Even the Daily Mail reported on it. Do you think it's normal for every newspaper to do court reporting of the sort found [in] local newspapers every step of the way?

Peter responded by blocking me and making use of the function on ‘X’ that allows you to hide chosen replies to your posts. This means that my reply will no longer be visible when people click into his post to see how people are responding.'

‘This reply has been hidden by the original Post author’.

So, this would suggest Jukes now knows what he is saying isn’t true but he’d just prefer you not to know anyway. I’m not sure how this can reasonably be described as ‘journalism’. His false claim remains on ‘X’ and has been viewed 266k times at the time of writing.

And of course, spreading race-baiting lies aside, Peter is missing the larger point. In a just world, child rapists are caught, convicted and left to rot in prison—because we expect our authorities to do their job without fear or favour. Especially when it comes to going after suspected child rapists. And this appears to be what is happening with the ‘qwhite’ suspects in the Bolton grooming gang case Jukes has highlighted.

The reason much of the British public is so incensed and animated by British-Pakistani grooming gangs is because our authorities and institutions were complicit. They behaved in ways they simply would not have were the perpetrators white. So, I suppose white people are treated differently when it comes to grooming gangs—but it’s just that the way they are treated directly contradicts Juke’s ‘argument’. It’s also rather fitting that Jukes is literally hiding inconvenient truths about grooming gangs.

People like Jukes can seemingly see racism everywhere they look—except where it actually exists however: the targeting and systematic rape of white girls at the hands of British-Pakistani rape gangs—in which case he would rather change the subject.