Who is funding Rupert Lowe’s ‘Rape Gang Inquiry’?

The ex-Reform MP’s ‘Rape Gang Inquiry,’ which has raised over £600,000, includes Tommy Robinson supporters.

A crowdfunded “Rape Gang Inquiry” led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe and involving Tommy Robinson supporters and other controversial figures, is pressing ahead despite the Labour government launching a formal national inquiry in June.

Lowe, who now sits as an independent MP, launched the initiative in March after accusing Reform UK of breaking “bold promises” to investigate grooming gangs. His Telegraph op-ed following the launch of the project, he began with an apology to supporters, saying he had pushed Reform “hard” behind the scenes, but failed to make an inquiry happen.

Though the government will now launch a national inquiry, Lowe insists his will continue. Unlike the government’s inquiry, Lowe’s has no statutory powers, but has raised over £619,000 in donations.

Who is funding the inquiry?

The majority of the £619,000 raised has come from small donors, but a handful of higher-profile figures have also contributed. The largest single donation — £8,000 — came from a software engineer who has shared social media posts about the rise of Islamism. Other donations have come from supporters of Rupert Lowe and individuals who have publicly called for migrants to be deported and housed in tents in their countries of origin. Last month, the parliamentary standards commissioner opened an investigation into whether Lowe declared the donations within the required 28-day timeframe. He has since been cleared of any breach of the rules.

Margaret Hepburn

British businesswoman Margaret Hepburn, who donated £70,000 to Reform UK through her company before the general election, has contributed a total of £15,000 to the inquiry. This includes two separate £5,000 donations made in her name, as well as an additional £5,000 given via her company, Hepburn Bio Care Limited, which produces eco-friendly cleaning and wastewater treatment products. Hepburn has been a resident of the tax haven Monaco for nearly 30 years.

Ben Habib

Ben Habib, former deputy leader of Reform UK, and previously a Brexit Party MEP, donated £5,000 to the inquiry. The Advance UK website states that unlike the Tories and Reform, Habib’s new political party, will not “chop and change with the wind”. He said other right-wing parties “jump onboard an issue – like tackling the grooming gangs – when they decide it’s safe to do so”.

Rupert Lowe has donated £5,000 himself.

What will the money be spent on?

The crowdfunder page states that “every line of spending will be published”, with funds going towards panel and legal advisor fees, venue hire and security, and travel expenses for witnesses.

The panel

Sammy Woodhouse

A survivor of child sexual abuse in Rotherham, Woodhouse is the inquiry’s “Victim Engagement Officer” and sits on the panel.

In 2018, Woodhouse came under attack from Robinson’s supporters for saying in a BBC interview that child sex abuse in Rotherham wasn’t just committed by Asian men. 

At the time, Woodhouse said that Tommy Robinson is selective in the cases that he chooses to focus on, stating: “If they’re going to talk about child rape they should be talking about it as a whole and not just by Pakistani Muslims.”

Woodhouse has since gone on to work for Robinson’s YouTube channel Urban Scoop and now posts pro-Robinson, anti-migration content. In one recent post, she called protestors chanting “Refugees welcome here”, “absolute degenerates”.

Donna Edmunds

Remember Donna Edmunds, the ex-Reform councillor who said she wanted to put up a statue of Tommy Robinson in every British town? The week after the local elections, she was suspended by Reform after declaring she was waiting for Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe to set up a party and “give us a real alternative”. 

Edmunds has been appointed to the panel for her “extensive experience in politics and the wider rape gang scandal”. That experience seems to be centre on her launching the National Archive for Survivors of Grooming Gangs back in May. The archive, she says, will collect survivor testimonies and examine how “white guilt” and “woke nonsense” contributed to police and councils’ failures in investigating child sex abuse cases. 

Esther McVey

Conservative MP Esther McVey, a former GB News presenter, is also on the inquiry panel. The former so-called Minister for Common Sense frequently talks about illegal immigration, and criticises Keir Starmer on social media. In a recent appearance on TalkTV, McVey said she questions whether Labour will survive a full term in office, and that Starmer and socialism are the enemy. 

James McMurdock

The former Reform MP, who was jailed almost 19 years ago for repeatedly kicking an ex-girlfriend, was also appointed to the panel. McMurdock recently removed the Reform whip from himself after the Times published an investigation into his use of government-backed Covid Bounce Back loans.

Ex-Reform deputy leader Ben Habib said he texted McMurdock following his appointment in April: “Well done on joining the inquiry. As I’m sure you know that will irritate Farage greatly. Be careful. 

“My advice to all former Reformers who fall out with Farage is to resign before he sacks and seeks to blacken their reputations.”

Raja Miah

Raja Miah is a controversial figure in Oldham, after making accusations without proof about local rape gang cover-ups. In 2021, he waged a vicious online campaign attacking former Labour leader of Oldham Council Sean Fielding. According to the Manchester Mill, he accused Fielding without evidence of covering up the gang rape of Oldham’s white children in return for “block votes” from the Asian community, and built up an online following with weekly “transmissions” on Facebook. He is now on Lowe’s ‘Rape Gang Inquiry’ panel too. 

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward