There is a scene in the third of the Godfather movie trilogy. The ageing Don [Michael] Corleone is in his kitchen trying to identify a traitor intent on a mafia power grab. Moments before he suffers a diabetic stroke, the don utters the unforgettable words, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
That is exactly how former chief prosecutor in the north-west of England, Nazir Afzal, told The Power List he felt in 2024. Coincidentally, he was dressed in a Godfather tee-shirt for the interview. And the reason he made that comparison was because for several days, Afzal had been doing the television and radio rounds defending the prime minister, Keir Starmar. The PM’s critics had accused him of doing nothing to save vulnerable young white girls from British Pakistani grooming gangs. Starmer was the director of public prosecutions at the time.
“We had to contextualise it,” he said. “The vast majority, 84 per cent, of sex offenders in this country are white British men. If we fixate only on brown men, we ignore the reality of sexual violence. We didn’t want white girls to think the only people they should be concerned about were brown men. The real issue wasn’t race. It was that these girls weren’t believed. That’s what we needed to change.”
Afzal remembers that period clearly. In May 2011, he took on one of the toughest roles in the British legal system. As a newly appointed chief prosecutor for his region, he walked into a storm which had been brewing for years. It was one which the justice system had repeatedly failed to confront. Within months, he would make a decision which changed the way child sexual exploitation was prosecuted in the UK forever.
For years, authorities in Rochdale had either ignored or dismissed the claims of young victims, many from troubled backgrounds. One girl’s allegations had been cast aside in 2009 because the police and prosecutors decided a jury would not believe her. For Afzal, that meant her abusers carried on sexually abusing and exploiting their victims, confident that they would never be held accountable. “It was like a doctor treating cases of flu here and there but not realising they were dealing with a pandemic,” he explained. When he asked his teams if they had any similar cases, they pointed him to Operation Span, an investigation into grooming gangs in Rochdale.
What happened next was unprecedented. Afzal overturned the decision not to prosecute. “I said, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s not going to happen. I believe everything she said. We got it wrong, and I’m reversing that decision.’” The case went to trial, and in May 2012, a jury convicted nine men. It was the beginning of a reckoning. Afzal’s intervention triggered a national conversation, but it also led to difficult questions about why these cases had been ignored for so long. The answer, he said, was simple but deeply uncomfortable: society didn’t value these victims. “The authorities, police, social services, local government, simply left them behind. They were treated with contempt. When they made allegations, they weren’t listened to.”
At the heart of the problem was a legal system ill-equipped to deal with child sexual exploitation. “On the statute books, the term ‘child prostitution’ was still being used until 2013,” Afzal pointed out. “That label meant these girls were being blamed for their own
abuse.” One of the first battles he fought, alongside then DPP, one Keir Starmer, was to change that language. But the failings ran deeper than just terminology. Police forces had no standardised approach to tackling child sexual abuse. Some forces took these cases seriously while others treated them as an afterthought. “We couldn’t have a postcode lottery,” Afzal explained. “So, for the first time ever, we introduced national guidelines on how to investigate and prosecute child sexual abuse.”
Beyond prosecution, the court process itself was brutal for victims. Many had to endure days of relentless questioning from multiple defence barristers, leaving them retraumatised. Afzal and Starmer pushed for a radical change: ground rules hearings. “We went to the judiciary and said, ‘This is unacceptable.’ Judges agreed, and a new approach was introduced where one barrister would ask questions on behalf of all defence teams. It was a groundbreaking shift.”
These changes had an immediate impact. Between 2012 and 2013, the UK’s conviction rate for child sexual abuse cases hit record levels. “We went from being not very good to being very good at tackling these cases,” Afzal recalled. High-profile convictions, such as those of Rolf Harris, Max Clifford, and Stuart Hall, followed, exposing how deeply rooted the problem was.
So why is something which is more than a decade old relevant today? Politicians, Afzal argued, are currently weaponising identity for their own ends, leaving minority communities to bear the brunt, suggested Afzal. “President Trump, when he was president last time, was talking about the Muslim ban, and you've got people like Robert Jenrick [shadow justice secretary], who is bad-mouthing every single British Pakistani in this country. When you've got language like that being used by people in power and positions of responsibility, is it any wonder that people are looking for somebody to blame.”
Afzal speaks with the urgency of someone who has spent a lifetime countering injustice. He paints a picture of a society in turmoil, where economic deprivation and misinformation have created a “perfect storm” of resentment. “The riots that we had in August last year were about people who have pretty shitty lives. Poor people, people from deprived communities, people who in the previous government would have been called left behind—these are the ones being manipulated. And you know, if I was in that position, I would look for somebody to blame. And if I'm being told by people in power, by aspects of the media, that it’s all about Muslim men or Pakistani men, then I’ll believe it.”
He draws a striking comparison to the notorious case of Harold Shipman, the doctor convicted of murdering dozens of patients. “We've got almost a perfect storm where things that have been done by British, Pakistani Muslims and by Muslims around the world say, terrorist acts, whatever it is, they are being expanded to attack all British Pakistanis and all Muslims. And it doesn't matter whether or not you are professional, it doesn't matter how law abiding you are. It means that 98 per cent of British Pakistanis are law abiding tax paying individuals, and yet we’re all going to be tarred by the behaviours of one or two. When Harold Shipman killed 250 patients, we didn't tar all of the medical profession.”
Afzal’s frustration deepens as he speaks about the lack of pushback from those in power. “The government has the machinery to fight misinformation. They should be relentlessly putting the facts out there, challenging the [Elon] Musks of this world to put up or shut up. Give us evidence, not just opinions. But because they’re not doing that, the vacuum is being
Afzal’s influence now extends far beyond the criminal justice system. In 2024, he was at the forefront of safeguarding reforms within the Catholic and Anglican churches.
“I was chair of the Catholic Church’s Standards Agency. The Catholic Church has an institutional problem with sexual abuse. They now have a regulator that audits safeguarding up and down the country. I went to the Vatican and met with the Pope. The Vatican now believes that England and Wales has, in its regulations that I founded, best practice. That was a good time to leave that.”
In August, Afzal stepped down from his role in the Catholic Church, only to take on a new challenge with the Church of England.
“In September, I became the chair of the Church of England’s national safeguarding panel. A month later, the Archbishop of Canterbury resigns. So now, I’m trying to do some of what I did with the Catholic Church within the Church of England because they themselves are having a tumultuous period.”
Afzal knows the road ahead may well be difficult, but he is optimistic. “I can only go by experience, and they are listening. I’m going to be at Synod. Can you believe it? This young Muslim man from Birmingham is going to be speaking at Synod, which is their parliament. They are committed to change. They have no choice.”
Beyond faith institutions, Afzal has turned his attention to the arts. “I became chair of the Lowry Theatre in Salford because I love theatre and film but never really had any role in that. The Lowry, in my view, is the national theatre of the north, and this year marks its 25th anniversary, so we’ve got lots of things planned.”
He is also a founding board member of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), which aims to tackle harassment and discrimination in film, music, theatre, and television. “We are developing standards, which we’re about to publish, to ensure that people in those industries can access support if they’re suffering bullying, harassment, or discrimination.”
Afzal continues to shape the future of higher education as chancellor of the University of Manchester.
“Manchester University is very sound financially. It’s just picked up its 26th Nobel Prize. But I am worried about other institutions around the country. Some of them are close to bankruptcy, and it won’t take much for them to have to close. I think it’s essential that we take a proper look at our university system to ensure we support those that are less resilient.”
But his passion for education extends beyond financial stability. “I’m really keen to ensure that the next generation, particularly women, can maximise their potential.”
Afzal has spent a lifetime fighting misogyny, racism, and institutional failings. He is not simply speaking truth to power. He is demanding that power listens and changes. And if his track record is anything to go by, it would be unwise to bet against him.
