Police help Rotherham couple get married on protest day

Nichola Bingham, aged 38 and Robert Kay, 44, from Brinsworth, got married last Saturday at Rotherham Minster, close to where far-right group Pegida UK held a protest at the same time as a counter dermonstration by community groups.

South Yorkshire Police arranged to escort the bridal party to the church to avoid any hitches.

Officers posed for pictures with the bride and bridesmaids outside the church and posted them on Twitter.

Assitant Chief Constable, Jason Harwin, said: “We were very conscious about the impact the protests had on everybody, but we were particularly concerned about the couple getting married.

“We worked with the couple to make sure we could get the bride to the church on time and thankfully everything did go smoothly.”

The Pegida group, led by English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, organised its demonstration in Rotherham over the child sexual exploitation scandal which rocked the town.

It claims there is 'continuing sexual abuse by predatory gangs of Muslim men across England’.

A report published in 2014 revealed that 1,400 Rotherham children had been abused by men of largely Pakistani heritage between 1997 and 2013.

Professor Alexis Jay, commissioned to produce the report for Rotherham Council, concluded that there was 'appalling' sexual exploitation in Rotherham, where children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated.

She found that those in authority in the town had failed to act.