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, told GB News that a senior member of social services in the West Yorkshire town made the threat next to a uniformed officer.
Piekos 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 with the people’s channel, 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.
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
GB News
“Sometimes these girls would just be gone for a few hours, but quite often they didn't come back that night or even the next morning,” he said.
“We'd see police cars parked up, you know, at 1 and 2 in the morning, late at night, clearly taking reports of missing children.”
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.”
After regaining his composure, Piekos said: “I was really incensed because I'd missed something really obvious there.”
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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, 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.”
The former DCI said: “I just couldn’t believe what was going on. I couldn’t believe that I was being told by this person, who’s supposed to be looking after the children… that she was going to arrest me.”
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.
“Since the publication of the Jay report in 2014, West Yorkshire Police has taken a proactive stance in exploring previous incidents and disclosures relating to non-recent child sexual exploitation and abuse.
John Piekos, a retired detective chief inspector, told GB News that a senior member of social services in the West Yorkshire town made the threat next to a uniformed officer
GB News
“This work has been underway over the past decade, resulting in hundreds of perpetrators now serving lengthy prison sentences totalling thousands of years. Many investigations are still underway, with trials scheduled throughout 2025 and 2026.
“Alongside our complex investigative work, we’ve shaped our policing response through working with survivors, charities, and safeguarding partners. We also work closely with the national Hydrant Programme to continually review and develop our approach, ensuring victims and survivors are at the forefront of everything we do. Protecting children is our primary focus.”
Bradford Council was contacted for comment.
John Piekos’s bombshell interview comes amid a fierce political debate over the grooming abuse gangs scandal in Westminster.
Robbie Moore MP said: “These revelations are utterly sickening and demand an immediate response from the very top of government. No one, especially not a decorated former officer investigating the abuse of children, should ever be threatened with arrest for simply doing their job.
“The Home Secretary must act today. She has the statutory powers to order a full, independent inquiry under the Inquiries Act — and she must now use them. No more delay, no more excuses.
“I urge the Home Office to see through the culture of denial from senior leaders and authorities in Keighley and Bradford who cannot be allowed to block the truth any longer. We owe it to victims and survivors, past and present, to get to the bottom of what happened — and who tried to cover it up. The British public will not accept anything less.”
