Rotherham abuse scandal probe implicates 91 officers

8 March 2017..........Rachel Cerfontyne, deputy head of the IPCC, giving a briefing on the inquiry into the Rotherham CSE scandal where more than 90 police officers are currently under investigation. Picture Scott Merrylees

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said today that their probe into the scandal - which includes allegations of police corruption and failures to act on reports of abuse - is the second largest operation the IPCC has ever undertaken, dwarfed only by its inquiry into the same force over the Hillsborough disaster.

IPCC ends nine Rotherham scandal inquiries despite ‘significant failings’ being uncovered

Of the 91 officers that have been identified from the 211 allegations made, 30 have been placed under notice they are subject to investigation after the IPCC said complaints against them indicated potential misconduct and/or criminal activity may have occurred.

It is the first IPCC update on the progress of the probe since March 2016, when it was revealed 66 officers had been identified.

There are still 120 outstanding allegations relating to officers who are yet to be identified, with 53 separate investigations taking place as part of the operation.

Two-and-a-half-years after Professor Alexis Jay’s report revealed more than 1,400 children had been victims of sexual exploitation in the town, largely at the hands of men from the Pakistani community, the IPCC says it has already concluded nine investigations into specific allegations against police officers - all of which found there was “no case to answer”.

But it was revealed today that some allegations were not proceeded with due to a lack of evidence related to issues with “the recording of information and the retention of archived materials”.

Some of the allegations date back to the 1990s and involve a “significant” number of retired officers - who would not face disciplinary proceedings.