Rotherham grooming victims say they were also sexually abused by five South Yorkshire Police officers
Rotherham child sexual exploitation survivors have claimed they were abused by five South Yorkshire Police officers during the height of their ordeals as children.
An investigation into the allegations has been launched by SYP.
The Rotherham grooming gangs scandal unfolded after an explosive report from Professor Alexis Jay - published over a decade ago - 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.
Five survivors, who are now all women, allege in a BBC article published today (July 29, 2025) that South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers sexually abused them - in addition to grooming gangs operating in the town.
A further 25 abuse survivors allege that corrupt police officers either worked with grooming gangs or failed to act on child sexual exploitation allegations. None of the 30 women can be named for legal reasons.
Now, South Yorkshire Police has confirmed its Major Crime Team is leading an investigation into the alleged involvement of its own police officers. It will be overseen by the police watchdog, the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct).
But a firm of solicitors representing the survivors say ‘those that have suffered abuse in Rotherham have no faith that SYP will do a thorough job of investigating alleged abuse by their own officers’.
Three former South Yorkshire Police officers, all of whom were based in Rotherham at the relevant time, have been arrested following complaints made in October and December 2024, alleging rape, other sexual offences and misconduct in public office, the IOPC has confirmed. The allegations have been made by six complainants.
Two of the former officers - a former police constable in his 50s and a retired police constable in his 60s - were arrested in December 2024 and January 2025, respectively, on suspicion of sexual offences and misconduct in public office. They are alleged to have carried out the offences between 1995 and 2002, during occasions when they were both on and off duty.
The third officer, described as being in his 50s, was arrested on March 31, 2025 on suspicion of raping a teenage girl in Rotherham in 2004. No-one has yet been charged.
What is being alleged?
One of the women who has spoken to police alleges she was sexually abused by two police officers, one of whom would track her down - over the course of a year - and pick her up in a police car in Rotherham town centre.
"He knew where we used to hang out, he would request either oral s** or rape us in the back of the police car," she has told the BBC.
She also claims that the officer threatened to offer her up to members of the grooming gang if she did not comply, and it was a choice of doing what he wanted or being taken to a location where it would be ‘15 or 20 guys one after the other’.
The woman also says that after being forced into an abortion by the grooming gang, the police officer sent to interview her was the same one who had allegedly been involved in her abuse, leaving her ‘destroyed’. He later ripped up the statement he had taken from her in front of her, she claims.
Another survivor claims she would run away from her children’s home, and upon being found, a police officer would rape her repeatedly in a squat.
Among the survivors who witnessed other forms of alleged corruption from South Yorkshire Police officers, is one woman who says she would hear one of the officers having sex with girls in exchange for money.
One survivor says she witnessed a police officer supplying a grooming gang with drugs in exchange for money, while three more say they were beaten up by police officers as children, with one saying this happened in a police cell.
What do South Yorkshire Police say?
Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said: "We know how hard it must be for a victim or survivor who has been so badly let down in the past, to put their faith into the South Yorkshire Police of today.
“We honour that trust with the utmost respect and care. Victims and survivors have been and continue to be at the heart of this investigation and all of our actions continue to be made in their best interests.
"We have a dedicated team of detectives working on this case who have worked diligently to explore all lines of enquiry. This has led to three arrests. One of those former officers remains on police bail pending further enquiries. The other two have been released from bail while the investigation continues.
"The investigation is overseen by the IOPC, which has directed South Yorkshire Police to investigate on its behalf. In the interests of maintaining and building the trust and confidence of those who have been brave enough to come forward, we are also working closely with colleagues from the National Crime Agency, who bring with them significant expertise through Operation Stovewood to help us ensure we leave no stone unturned."
What do the solicitors representing survivors say?
Amy Clowrey, Director and Solictor with Switalskis, says she and the firm has been collecting ‘harrowing’ evidence and testimony from Rotherham survivors for the past decade.
She says survivors have ‘have no faith’ in South Yorkshire Police and their ability to carry out new criminal investigation into their own officers.
In addition, they believe the accounts they have heard are ‘only a fraction of the full extent of the abuse’.
Ms Clowrey says authorities have ‘resisted’ their requests for an investigation into the alleged criminality of police officers for years, ‘despite us providing them with the accounts of survivors’.
She has also raised concerns that IOPC’s £6million Operation Linden investigation did not unearth any corruption from officers.
The investigation covered 265 separate allegations made by 51 complainants, and the watchdog investigated the conduct of 47 officers. The 2022 report concluded that the force ‘fundamentally failed in its duty to protect vulnerable children and young people’ - but not a single officer lost their job during the course of the investigation.
Ms Clowrey’s statement, in full, reads: “Switalskis has been representing survivors of abuse in Rotherham for over a decade. We were hopeful that following the criminal trials, and Operation Linden (run by the IOPC), that the alleged abuse by police officers would be unearthed and that there would be accountability. That never came. For years the authorities have resisted our requests for an investigation into the alleged criminality of police officers, despite us providing them with the accounts of survivors.
“Those that have suffered abuse in Rotherham have no faith that SYP will do a thorough job of investigating alleged abuse by their own officers.
“In addition, dealing with SYP is retraumatising for them, many of our clients refuse to report offences to SYP because they do not think they will be believed and because they were treated so badly in the past. This investigation must be handed over to an independent police force to ensure that survivors feel confident enough to come forward.
“The accounts we have heard, which we expect are only a fraction of the full scale of abuse, are utterly harrowing.
“It is also important to note that the issues faced in South Yorkshire are not isolated and this should be a further wakeup call to the government to fully acknowledge the scale of child sexual abuse and institutional failings. The government must fulfil the recommendations within the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the more recent recommendations of Baroness Casey.
“Finally, we recognise the impact that stories such as this can have upon survivors of abuse and their loved ones. Anyone impacted by the story covered by the BBC can reach out for specialist support. There are a number of specialist organisations and charities out there, one of which is The Survivors Trust.”
South Yorkshire Police’s statement in response to Ms Clowrey’s comments
Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said: "We are acutely aware of how profoundly difficult, if not impossible, it must be for a victim survivor in a case of this nature to feel confident and reassured in the process when their reports are being investigated by a force they associate with harm they have suffered, even with independent oversight. For this reason, we have been having conversations at the highest level with the National Crime Agency, and the IOPC, for many months to ensure victim survivors, and their wishes, are truly at the heart of the criminal justice process.
"Our detectives, under the direction of the IOPC, have always taken prompt action when they have received information linked to this investigation, including information from solicitors. The enquiries carried out have been extensive and complex, and we have worked hard, and without fear or favour, to obtain relevant information from third parties in our pursuit for justice. When material has not been made immediately available to us by solicitors, we have used court orders to obtain the level of detail required to progress our investigation."
IOPC’s Operation Linden and what they have to say about the current SYP probe
Of the 47 officers investigated by the IOPC, eight were found to have a case to answer for misconduct and six had a case to answer for gross misconduct.
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.
The watchdog claimed that in many cases officers had retired and, due to legislation in place at the time, could not face disciplinary proceedings.
Commenting on Operation Linden and the fact SYP has been given permission to investigate its own officers, an IOPC spokesperson said: “Operation Linden involved 93 investigations into how South Yorkshire Police (SYP) responded to allegations of child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 – 2013. We concluded in 2022 that SYP fundamentally failed in its duty to protect vulnerable children and young people during that time.
“We found systemic issues including failures in leadership, lack of professional curiosity, cultural issues and gaps in skills and training. Where individual failings were identified, they were addressed. Of the 47 officers investigated, eight had a case to answer for misconduct and six for gross misconduct. In many cases, officers had retired and, due to the legislation, could not face disciplinary proceedings.
“We first became aware of complaints from victim-survivors relating to child sexual abuse allegations involving former SYP officers when we received a referral from SYP in October 2024 and instructed the force to carry out an investigation under our direction and control. This means that the IOPC is responsible for the investigation and all of the key decisions. Since the investigation began, three former SYP officers have been arrested.
“This is a highly sensitive and complex investigation and we decided SYP would carry out the investigative enquiries given it has the specialist expertise and resources.
“The fact the force had already undertaken significant investigative work before we became aware of this matter was another factor in our decision - one of the officers had already been arrested at the time SYP first referred the matter to us in October 2024. We were assured by the force that none of the investigating officers had either worked with any of the former officers under investigation or were themselves investigated as part of Op Linden.
“We are satisfied that there is no conflict of interest, but as a matter of course, we keep these matters regularly under review during directed investigations.
“We have been in contact with solicitors representing some of the victim-survivors regarding further reports of offending to ensure that any new complaints are investigated. The investigation has since widened to involve complaints from six women.
“We want victim-survivors to feel confident that all complaints will be treated extremely seriously and sensitively. We encourage any victim-survivors or any witnesses to come forward if they have not already done so.”
The Professor Jay report and the national inquiry into grooming gangs
On August 26, 2014, a report from Prof 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.
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.
Prof Jay went on to chair the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which published its final report in 2022, calling for 20 necessary reforms to be implemented in order to reduce child suffering.
In June this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Sir Keir agreed to the inquiry after months of pressure to implement a full investigation, prompting suggestions from some that the move amounts to a u-turn.
His government previously said it wanted to get on with implementing recommendations from the Jay Report and IICSA.
Operation Stovewood
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 1,360 crimes. To date, a total of 47 people have been convicted as part of the operation.
The most recent convictions came last week, when a total of four men were found guilty of a catalogue of sex crimes as part of Operation Stovewood.
Jurors found Mohammed Makhmood; Sageer Hussain and Kessur Ajaib guilty of offences including rape and indecent assault on July 23, 2025.
Then on July 24, 2025, Paul Richardson was found guilty of four counts of rape and one count of attempted rape.
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, however.
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.