Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal unlikely to be subject of new inquiry

South Yorkshire Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Oliver Coppard reported on the issue at a meeting of South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel on February 3. Mayor Coppard said that the five local inquiries into child sexual exploitation (CSE) announced by the government are likely to focus on other areas.

He said that priorities locally include providing more support for victims and survivors and fully implementing the findings of the highly critical 2014 Jay Report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

He also praised two women who tried to expose major failings in the police investigation as “heroes”.

Professor Alexis Jay said at least 1,400 under-age girls had been horrifically groomed and abused by gangs of men between 1997 and 2013. She found the victims had been failed by police and Rotherham Council.

“South Yorkshire is on a different journey because of what has taken place,” Mayor Coppard said.

Significant

He also stressed: “We know that child sexual exploitation happens in every walk of life and every community. It’s important to remember that.”

A report to the panel said: “Significant work continues within South Yorkshire Police, along with colleagues from the National Crime Agency and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) looking at historic abuse.

“CSE remains a key priority for the Mayor and will appear as one of the key priorities within the new Police and Crime Plan that is currently being developed.”

Get the latest headlines, straight to your inbox, with The Star’s free emails

Sheffield councillor Ben Miskell asked what progress had been made in obtaining a report from watchdog organisation the Independent Office for Police Conduct. That report upheld a complaint that senior officers had failed in their duties in Rotherham.

The mayor called for the document to be released following a Channel 4 News investigation. Campaigners said that the report had been buried and two members of the IOPC team said the investigation itself was a failure.

They said documents and evidence were mishandled, leadership was poor and they were told not to go after senior officers. Investigators also said that specialist youth worker Jayne Senior, who was one of the first people to highlight her fears over grooming, was painted as an unreliable witness by senior police officers to IOPC investigators.

Buried

Dr Angie Heal, formerly of South Yorkshire Police, complained about senior officers’ failures to protect children, looked into by the IOPC. She told Channel 4 the report had been “buried”.

Mayor Coppard said: “A huge amount of disquiet and concern has been raised by that Channel 4 report. I was sorry to hear that the IOPC hadn’t released that report to my predecessor [Dr Alan Cummings].

“They have been back in touch to say that they understand they need to release that report today. We are meeting tomorrow (February 4) to discuss how it will be released and how to release it.

“I have no doubt that there is information that will need to remain private. On behalf of the communities of South Yorkshire I want to reassure people that everything that can be done has been done.

“The two women who did everything they could to bring those issues to light are heroes in my view, as is anyone who puts their head above the parapet like that.”