Rochdale child abusers
In 2015, the Greater Manchester Police apologised for failing to investigate British-Pakistani men who ran a grooming gang. Pictured: Five of the men jailed for sexually exploiting girls in Rochdale. GMP

84% of people convicted for the crime of gang grooming in the past decade were Asian, a new study by British-Pakistani researchers has revealed.

The failure of British-Pakistani Muslim men to integrate has encouraged them to form grooming gangs, the report by counter-extremism organisation Quilliam claims.

The think-tank found that of the 264 people convicted for gang grooming since 2005, 222 (84%) were Asian.

Since 2011, more than 700 women and girls have been identified as victims of sexual exploitation by grooming gangs across the UK.

An investigation by The Times into "British-Pakistani pimping gangs" in Rochdale, Manchester, thrust the issue into the open. 19 men in the Rochdale child sex abuse ring were jailed for sexually abusing 47 girls.

Quilliam CEO Haras Rafiq lives in Rochdale. He 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.

"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."

Muna Adil, who co-authored the report, told The Telegraph: "We began thinking we would debunk the media narrative that Asians are over-represented in this specific crime. But, when the final numbers came in we were alarmed and dismayed. For both of us being of Pakistani heritage, this issue is deeply personal and deeply disturbing."

Researchers wrote that Asian men target white girls because they are considered "easy and open to sexual relationships with a little persuasion."

"There are elements from within the British Pakistani community that still subscribe to outdated and sexist views of women embedded within their jaded interpretations of Islam," Adil said.

The Quilliam report claims that the members of sex abuse gangs "have been influenced by the cultural conditions of their home country and a wider failure of British society to integrate these men into their adoptive culture."

The organisation calls on greater support to help integrate British-Pakistani communities into British society.

David Cameron