Decade on from explosive report detailing scale of Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal

On August 26, 2014, a report from Professor Alexis Jay concluded that failures by police and politicians contributed to the sexual exploitation of around 1,400 children in Rotherham by groups of men in the town, predominately of Pakistani-heritage.

The report

The report found that vulnerable young girls, who were mainly white, were treated with contempt by police officers when reports of child sexual exploitation were made.

Men of largely Pakistani heritage were said to have been responsible for the abuse, which involved children being trafficked, raped, beaten and intimidated by men while those in authority failed to act.

Frontline staff repeatedly raised the issue, but managers downplayed their concerns.

Prof Jay said ‘collective failures of political and officer leadership were blatant’.

Despite there having been growing evidence that child sexual exploitation (CSE) was a serious problem in Rotherham - coming from those working in residential care and from youth workers who knew the young people well - the scale and seriousness of the problem was underplayed by senior managers in social care, the report found.

Prof Jay said that South Yorkshire Police had failed to prioritise CSE, regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to treat their abuse as a crime.

Further stark evidence of CSE came in 2002, 2003 and 2006 with three reports known to the police and council, which could not have been clearer in their description of the situation in Rotherham, the report outlined.

Prof Jay said the first was effectively suppressed because some senior officers disbelieved the data it contained.

The other two reports set out the links between child sexual exploitation and drugs, guns and criminality in the area. Prof Jay said the reports “were ignored and no action was taken to deal with the issues that were identified in them”.

The abuse was allowed to continue without action being taken.

The fallout

Prof Jay was commissioned to write the report by Rotherham Council, with its shock findings triggering a series of resignations, including that of the then council leader, chief executive and head of children's services.

South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner at the time, Shaun Wright, who had previously been Rotherham Council's cabinet member responsible for children's services, also stepped down.

Damning Linden report said police made ‘systemic’ failings - but none of the 47 investigated officers were sacked

The £6million Operation Linden report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), published in 2022, found that South Yorkshire Police made ‘systemic’ and ‘significant’ failings but confirmed not a single officer involved had lost their job.

The IOPC’s Operation Linden report covered 91 separate investigations started between 2014 and 2018, and investigated the conduct of 47 officers. Speaking as the report was published, the IOPC said the worst sanction an officer had received was a ‘final written warning’.

An IOPC spokesperson said in 2022: “In many cases, officers had retired and, due to legislation in place at the time, could not face disciplinary proceedings. However, five of these officers received sanctions ranging from management action up to a final written warning. A sixth faced a misconduct hearing arranged by the force earlier this year and the case was found not proven by the independent panel.”

Speaking at the time, IOPC Director of Major Investigations Steve Noonan said: “Our report shows how SYP failed to protect vulnerable children and young people. Like other agencies in Rotherham at that time, it was simply not equipped to deal with the abuse and organised grooming of young girls on the scale we encountered.”

In the report’s forward, IOPC Director General Michael Lockwood said investigators found that officers were ‘not fully aware, or able, to deal with child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSA/E) offences’ and showed ‘insufficient empathy’ towards survivors who were vulnerable children and young people.

“We saw examples of SYP seeing children, and young people, as ‘consenting’ to their exploitation, and a police culture that did not always recognise survivors as victims, or understand that, often, neither did those being groomed and abused,” Mr Lockwood said.

National Crime Agency brought in to bring perpetrators to justice

The National Crime Agency was drafted in to investigate historic offences over the 16 years referred to in the Jay Report through its Operation Stovewood, which remains the biggest the single largest law enforcement investigation into non-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK. Since it began in 2014, Operation Stovewood has identified more than 1,150 potential victims and recorded over 1360 crimes. A total of 36 people have been convicted of offences as part of the investigation.

Earlier this month, 77-year-old David Saynor became the latest person to be jailed as part of Operation Stovewood.

During a Sheffield Crown Court hearing, Judge David Dixon sentenced him to 24 years’ custody for a catalogue of sexual offences carried out against eight girls, who were selected based on their level of vulnerability. The court heard how Saynor used his limousine business to prey upon girls in the town.

In November 2023, the NCA announced that they will no longer be opening any new investigations, and any new allegations will be investigated by South Yorkshire Police. The National Crime Agency will continue to investigate the cases they have already opened.

From January 1, 2024, any new allegations of non-familial child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, which took place between 1997 to 2013, will also be investigated by SYP.

The NCA currently has 50 ongoing Operation Stovewood operations.

What the agencies who turned a blind eye to the abuse say now

All of the different agencies involved at the time now say that fundamental change has been actioned following the report, and that their response to both CSE, and those at risk of becoming exploited, has been improved and strengthened.

South Yorkshire Police

Speaking today (Monday, August 26, 2024), Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said: “When victims and survivors spoke to the Jay Inquiry, they put their trust in a process where all others had failed them. Their bravery and determination was a catalyst to fundamental change in policing so I want to explain how different our handling of CSE is today.

“We now work together across all of the agencies sharing information to better protect the child. We create profiles of CSE to identify and record emerging trends and we share versions of these with the public to inform and to improve transparency. This includes data on the ethnicity of those involved.

“Importantly, we also recognise that CSE today looks different to that detailed in the Jay Report. It evolves, advances and morphs into an approach less recognisable than the one before but the information we share means we can identify some of the behaviours which come before the abuse and take action to prevent harm.

“We may never be able to stop child abuse in all its forms but thanks to the bravery of those who stepped forward to speak out, we will continue to make Rotherham a hostile environment for anyone intent on causing harm.”

Rotherham Council

Speaking last month, Darren Downs, Independent Scrutineer for the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership, said:“Our journey has been highly publicised and rightly scrutinised. We will never be complacent about the threat of harm to local children.

“The partnership will continue to do all that we can to support the victims of child exploitation, whilst ensuring that offenders are brought to justice. The new strategy defines the roles and responsibilities of key partner agencies and how we will work together to deliver key priorities.”

Councillor Victoria Cusworth, cabinet member for children and young people at Rotherham Council, said: “Over the last 10 years, we have been committed to listening to the voice and lived experience of victims and survivors in order to drive improvements in services.

“We have made significant strides forward in the way that we tackle child exploitation in Rotherham and the council’s children’s services have been graded as “Good” consistently by Ofsted since 2017. We will continue to build on this work alongside partners, and in delivering the priorities set out in this strategy.”

Rotherham NHS

Chris Edwards, director for Rotherham at NHS South Yorkshire, said: “Over the last 10 years the NHS in Rotherham has worked closely with Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police to make sure we have robust arrangements in place to safeguard our children, and to support victims of exploitation.”

Statement from South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard

Commenting on the tenth anniversary of the report, Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire’s Mayor, said: “The Jay Report details horrific, almost unimaginable crimes carried out against children in Rotherham. The report includes a recital of those many, repeated failures of organisations to check themselves and each other; to properly place the needs of our communities above the need to protect themselves. 

“Time and again, despite very clear warnings, the failure of institutions to act left vulnerable children and families at the mercy of violent and dangerous people. 

“All the evidence says we are in a different and better place now. But there can be absolutely no complacency. It is incumbent on all of us in positions of power across South Yorkshire to continue to acknowledge that failure, and to continue our shared efforts not just to restore those institutions but to restore our community’s trust in their intentions and their actions. 

“Ten years on from Alexis Jay’s Report, the journey along the road to restoring that trust will carry on in earnest. Those crimes should never have been allowed to happen here in South Yorkshire, but we must not, will not, and cannot forget they did."     

*Any South Yorkshire resident who has a victim or rape or sexual assault can receive support services free of charge from a number of services.

Please visit the website of the South Yorkshire Independent Sexual Violence Service for more information: www.syisva.org.uk.

If you wish to report a crime in progress, suspects at the scene or a person in immediate danger please dial 999.

For all other crime reporting either ring 101 or report online via the South Yorkshire Police website at :www.southyorkshire.police.uk.

Alternatively crimes can be reported anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at: www.crimestoppers-uk.org.