Derby police were aware of rumours of a paedophile gang operating in the city.[1] On 30 December 2008, Staffordshire police stopped a car on suspicion of shoplifting, carrying three gang members and three young girls.[3] The girls had been reported missing from a care home in Derby.[3] The police drove the girls back to Derby, and during the journey, they told the officers about what had been taking place.[1] Derbyshire police force launched an undercover investigation called Operation Retriever, setting up surveillance and tailing the gang's BMW around Derby.[1] Detectives collected DNA samples from several of the crime scenes.[5] Siddique was wearing an electronic tag after a previous conviction for assaulting a woman.[1]

On 24 April 2009, two distressed teenagers stumbled out of a flat that was under surveillance and said that they had been raped.[3] The police had been unaware of their presence. The victims told the police of other girls who had been assaulted, and the police soon discovered a campaign of systematic grooming and abuse within the city. Detective Inspector of Derbyshire police, Shaun Dawson, said, "When we arrested them, we had no idea of the scale of this. Once we had them locked up other victims spoke out and it snowballed from there."[1] Debbie Platt, who led the police investigation, said she was shocked at the extent of the abuse and said it was like "a campaign of rape against children."[3] The police stated that the abuse could have continued for a lot longer.[1]

I'll start with the line "Derby police were aware of rumours of a paedophile gang operating in the city." - which simply implies the past. I believe that there needs to be clarity of time frames - otherwise it can be taken to mean that there has always been some paedophile gang operating in the city since the dawn of time! Are there any sources which place the time frame before 30 December 2008 with any degree of certainty (Decade - year - first known event) which allow for an accurately constructed time line to be presented. A generic reference to the past is not really good enough. 

TTFN