Nicole Taylor, who wrote Three Girls, said that while she accepted that groups such as the English Defence League and other extremists would “hitch their wagon opportunistically to anything”, she felt confident this drama “doesn’t give them an opportunity to do so”.

Taylor said such concerns had occupied her for four years while she carried out the research and interviews for the programme – including speaking to many of the victims, their families and the whistleblowers who fought for years for the exploitation to be taken seriously – but said that it was “not a reason for silence”.

“I didn’t want to give these people [the EDL] an opportunity,” she said. “But that’s not a reason to do the drama. I felt very strongly, from beginning to end, that there is a significant benefit in airing this story and I still feel that.

“There was no religious basis for this, but a wider discussion about why this was, and is, a distinct pattern would be welcome.”

ENDS

Really?  No religious basis?

Read the judge's remarks in this report from the Manchester Evening News on the day the men were sentenced.

Nine 'pure evil' men who abused girls as young as 13 were today jailed for a total of 77 years for their roles in a child sex grooming ring.

Following an 11-week trial, a jury found the nine men, from Rochdale and Oldham, guilty of several counts of sexual abuse over a two-year period.

Today the men were all jailed at Liverpool Crown Crown.

• A 59-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for 19 years convicted of two counts of rape, one sex assault, one of trafficking and conspiracy.
• Kabeer Hassan, 24, of Lacrosse Avenue, Oldham, was jailed for nine years after he was convicted of rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
• Abdul Aziz, 41, of Armstrong Hurst Close, Rochdale, was jailed for nine years after he was convicted of trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. He was also cleared of two counts of rape but
• Abdul Rauf, 43, of Darley Road, Rochdale, was jailed for six years after being convicted of trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
• Mohammed Sajid, 35, of Jepheys Street, Rochdale, was jailed for 12 years after he was convicted of conspiracy, sexual activity with a child, rape and trafficking. Earlier in the trial the jury was ordered to find him not guilty of one rape charge.
• Adil Khan, 42, of Oswald Street, Rochdale, was jailed for eight years after he was convicted of conspiracy and trafficking.
• Abdul Qayyum, 43, of Ramsay Street, Rochdale, was jailed for five years after he was convicted of conspiracy.
• Mohammed Amin, 44, of Falinge Road, Rochdale, was jailed for five years after he was found guilty of sex assaults and conspiracy.
• Hamid Safi, 22, of Kensington Street, Rochdale, was jailed for four years after he was convicted of trafficking and conspiracy. He was also found not guilty of two counts of rape.

All the convicted men have been placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life. 

Jailing the nine men Judge Gerald Clifton said: "You have all been convicted by the jury after a long trial of grave sexual offences which were committed between the spring of 2008 and 2010.

"These involved the grooming and sexual exploitation of several girls, aged in their early teens.

"In some cases those girls were raped, callously, viciously and violently.

"Some of you acted as you did to satiate your lust, some of you to make money, all of you treated them as though they were worthless and beyond respect.

"I believe that one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion."

“Some of you raised in the trial the suggestion that this prosecution was triggered by racial factors. That's so much nonsense.

“As I have said what triggered this prosecution was your lust and greed."

ENDS

I'll leave the last word to a British Muslim community leader apparently driven by common sense, not pandering to the politically correct zeitgeist - as reported in the Manchester Evening News at the time.

Muslim campaigner says grooming scandal has exposed problem

A Muslim group said the Rochdale sex grooming scandal has exposed a section of the British Pakistani community who believe ‘white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused without a second thought’. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of campaign group the Ramadhan Foundation, insisted race was central to the crimes and blasted Muslim community elders for ‘once again burying their heads in the sand’.