‘I Don’t Have Many Male Friends Because Every Time They’re Misogynistic and Sexist I Tell Them to F*ck Off’

In an edited extract from his panel discussion at this year’s Byline Festival, former Chief Prosecutor for North-West England Nazir Afzal confronts the reality society still doesn’t want to face when tackling violence against women and girls

I’ve seen the worst of humanity. I’ve prosecuted hundreds of femicides and thousands of rapes. Time and time again, it is men – they are the problem. Bringing people to justice is part of that, and there have been all manner of cases brought against child grooming gangs. But at the end of the day, every prosecution was a failure because somebody had already been harmed. For years, I have been conscious of the fact that we’re not doing enough work around prevention.

After the Rochdale [child sexual abuse ring] trial, I did a lot of media and wanted people to think about why those men felt that they could abuse women and girls in the way that they did. What’s worse now, of course, is that social media has given people a platform that they previously didn’t have to reach those who otherwise would not have had access to the kind of misinformation that is now commonplace.

After the trial, the far-right came for me – even though I was the one who brought the perpetrators to justice. Disinformation was circulating online that I had not prosecuted these cases. My home was attacked. My children couldn’t go to school for four months. This is where intersectionality comes in: had I been ‘John Smith’, wouldn’t they have carried me through the streets of Westminster on their shoulders? But I wasn’t.