Covered up: 1,400 cases of child sexual abuse in Rotherham since 1997
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-28939089
Rotherham child abuse scandal: 1,400 children exploited, report finds
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBC (State-funded) News
At least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, a report has found.
Children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated, it said.
The report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council, revealed there had been three previous inquiries.
Council leader Roger Stone said he would step down with immediate effect.
Mr Stone, who has been the leader since 2003, said: "I believe it is only right that as leader I take responsibility for the historic failings described so clearly."
The inquiry team noted fears among council staff of being labelled "racist" if they focused on victims' description of the majority of abusers as "Asian" men.
"Doused in petrol"
Professor Alexis Jay, who wrote the latest report, said there had been "blatant" collective failures by the council's leadership, senior managers had "underplayed" the scale of the problem and South Yorkshire Police had failed to prioritise the issue.
Prof Jay said: "No-one knows the true scale of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham over the years. Our conservative estimate is that approximately 1,400 children were sexually exploited over the full inquiry period, from 1997 to 2013."
Revealing details of the inquiry's findings, Prof Jay said: "It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered."
The inquiry team found examples of "children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone".
Five men from the town were jailed for sexual offences against girls in 2010, but the report said police "regarded many child victims with contempt".
District Commander for Rotherham, Ch Supt Jason Harwin said: "Firstly I'd like to start by offering an unreserved apology to the victims of child sexual exploitation who did not receive the level of service they should be able to expect from their local police force.
"We fully acknowledge our previous failings."
Ch Supt Harwin said the force had "overhauled" the way it dealt with such cases and had successfully prosecuted a number of abusers.
But he admitted: "I accept that our recent successes... will not heal the pain of those victims who have been let down."
'Racism' fear
The report found: "Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so."
Failures by those charged with protecting children happened despite three reports between 2002 and 2006 which both the council and police were aware of, and "which could not have been clearer in the description of the situation in Rotherham".
She said the first of these reports was "effectively suppressed" because senior officers did not believe the data. The other two were ignored, she said.
The inquiry team found that in the early-2000s when a group of professionals attempted to monitor a number of children believed to be at risk, "managers gave little help or support to their efforts".
The report revealed some people at a senior level in the police and children's social care thought the extent of the problem was being "exaggerated".
Prof Jay said: "The authorities involved have a great deal to answer for."
A victim of abuse in Rotherham, who has been called "Isabel" to protect her identity, told BBC Panorama: "I was a child and they should have stepped in.
"No matter what's done now... it's not going to change that it was too late, it should have been stopped and prevented."
I KNEW it. Knew, knew, knew it. Police and the council failed to act, even though this has been common news on the internet and other news sources on the internet for years. Why? Well see, with multiculturalism we've got to be tolerantttttttt of other cultural practices because, after all, cultures which abuse underage girls as the normal are just as equal as any western, Christian culture - isn't it?
Ironically though, this is the very same council which took away the Romanian children from the couple who were Ukip members... for being Ukip members. Prepared to act there, but not prepared to act on third world abuse for fear of 'upsetting' our new diverse 'communities' or 'inflame' the 'tensions'. We all know why Labour failed to act though as we know where a large part of the Labour vote comes from. It's not rocket science.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBC
"Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist”
Professor Alexis Jay
I'd start criminal prosecutions into the Police, the Council and take the area under direct central government control.
Thoughts?
