Cop cleared of failing to act on grooming tip-offs as MP says hearing 'painted deeply disturbing picture'

Following the conclusion of the misconduct hearing yesterday, the hearing’s panel determined that former Detective Sergeant David Walker had not taken any action ‘which falls below the accepted practice at the time’.

The panel also noted that Mr Walker, who was head of a South Yorkshire Police (SYP) unit tasked with investigating child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 2009 and 2012,’ has been ‘hardworking, diligent and professional in his approach to his work’.

Among the allegations brought against Mr Walker following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) was that he failed to record concerns made in a series of emails from Jayne Senior, who ran the Risky Business youth project in Rotherham.

These emails included information that a teenage girl had been raped by a man in the presence of an accomplice, that one suspect threatened young girls with a gun he carried in his car and that a man who had been arrested for sex offences was encouraging girls as young as 10 to visit his home.

The panel said there was ‘no dispute that the emails were sent nor that the information is not recorded on relevant systems,’ and in some instances the information had already been given to other police officers and so he was under ‘no obligation’ to pass it on.

In others, the panel said it would have been ‘inappropriate’ for him to record the information due to the force’s procedures on logging allegations without named victims, and on one occasion Mr Walker was asked to interview a potential victim who had already been interviewed.

The panel’s findings state: “There is no suggestion that this officer has deliberately or maliciously ignored information that has been passed to him nor do we find that he ignored information from Jayne Senior. He was wary about whether such information was entirely accurate and concerned that it should be submitted in accordance with the correct process.”

Another of the allegations brought against Mr Walker, who has now left SYP, was that he failed to act on claims that teenage sisters were being abused by men working at a car wash in the town.

The panel found that the sisters were not were not ‘willing to engage with officers’ and it ‘was not appropriate for this officer to seek to speak to the children’.

Their report stated that another officer had opened a report and concluded it without further action after determining the information was ‘a matter for the social services’. The same officer subsequently conceded that he had ‘conceded that he had not properly dealt with information’.

Mr Walker had ‘no obligation’ to speak to the officer about the information, said the panel, adding that ‘he could properly rely on the officer having submitted any relevant information’.

The panel noted there was a ‘general lack of understanding and recognition of CSE (child sexual exploitation) issues by police forces generally’ and SYP ‘in particular’.

Speaking after the conclusion of the misconduct hearing, Rotherham MP said today is ‘an incredibly disappointing day for victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation’ in the town.

She added: “The proceedings painted a deeply disturbing picture of South Yorkshire Police’s approach to CSE throughout this period. Sadly, it is one that will be all too familiar to survivors, whistleblowers and all those who have fought to expose the appalling failure to protect children in Rotherham.’

‘While this misconduct hearing has now concluded, it is abundantly clear that this was far larger than the failures of any one officer.”

Mr Walker’s hearing was the final set of proceedings against 47 officers and former officers who have been investigated by the IOPC in the wake of the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.

A full report detailing the IOPC’s findings on the conduct of SYP officers tasked with investigating CSE in Rotherham is expected to be published imminently.