1400 child victims of sexual abuse in Rotherham

[Livia]

1400 children in Rotherham were victims of appalling sexual abuse and exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. 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' descriptions of the majority of abusers as "Asian" men. 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.

A victim of sexual abuse in Rotherham told BBC's Panorama: "I was a child and they should have stepped in." 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."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

[Cal.]

Disgusting!

[Ninastar]

Horrific. Poor kids :sad:

[Kizzy]

Am I surprised? No.
It's been known for years and ignored.
The book 'Dark heart' by Nick Davies shows it was nationwide, I recommend it.

[Livia]

These kids suffered because people didn't want to appear to be racist, despite the males - we won't call them 'men' - who carried out these appaling acts were almost exclusively from Pakistan and south Asia.

I want to see heads rolling, not just in rotherham, but everywhere this has happened. And the first person to be sacked should be Rotherham's Police & Crime Commissioner. How dare he say he doesn't intend to step down? Miliband is calling for his resignation, and if he's got any sense he'll also be calling for the social workers involved to be booted, prosecuted and stripped on their pensions. At least the councillor responsible for Children's Services had the sense to resign immediately. It's hard to believe this could happen in England in 2014.

[Crimson Dynamo]

*waits for the first

"lessons have been learned"

from someone who should have been sacked

[Livia]

*waits for the first

"lessons have been learned"

from someone who should have been sacked

I'm also waiting for the first poster to take the opposite view. There's always one.

[Kizzy]

Why would anyone be sacked?... They all work to governmental guidelines.
A couple of scapegoats and we'll forget the whole sorry affair?

The cynic in me says the timing of this 'expose' when the spotlight was on westminster in the 80s is suspect.

[Livia]

I've just lost the will to discuss this.

[Ninastar]

It's sad knowing that relatives of these kids would end up in jail if they found out what happened to their kids. In all child abuse cases really. If I had kids, I honestly don't know what id do and that scares me.

[Redway]

I'm also waiting for the first poster to take the opposite view. There's always one.

Always the same few as well...

[the truth]

These kids suffered because people didn't want to appear to be racist, despite the males - we won't call them 'men' - who carried out these appaling acts were almost exclusively from Pakistan and south Asia.

I want to see heads rolling, not just in rotherham, but everywhere this has happened. And the first person to be sacked should be Rotherham's Police & Crime Commissioner. How dare he say he doesn't intend to step down? Miliband is calling for his resignation, and if he's got any sense he'll also be calling for the social workers involved to be booted, prosecuted and stripped on their pensions. At least the councillor responsible for Children's Services had the sense to resign immediately. It's hard to believe this could happen in England in 2014.

100% agree....political correctness gone mad again. plus the endless cover ups , especialy under a labour government where big lazy government gets fat complacent and self serving and the cover ups grow and grow like a cancer......
i dont trust a word a social worker says to me either, nhs health boards and trust members stink, its seeped down to the nurses now who lie for a living, as for cops, theyre a joke....what are they for? who are they serving? does anyone bother report crime or speak to them anymore? no doubt theyll have yet another unseen internal investigation, where no one at all will be found guilty or take responsibility.....wasnt there a stat somewhere 1500+ people killed in uk police custody down the years and no one has ever been prosecuted?

just the way the politicians, the civil servants and cops investigate themselves stinks to the high heavens.

the end result of all this cover ups, kronyism, back scratching , back handers, internal investigations nonsense

an estimated 1400 innocent child victims of sexual abuse in rotherham alone in less than 20 years? muliply that by all the other towns and cities and villages and all the people they didnt catch?

back to immigration and illegal immigration.....supposedly theres over a million illegal immigrants whom we have no records of? add to the millions of immigrants from many parts of the world

finallly a question for the morons in parliament. didnt they see any of this coming? who brain washed everyone into towing the policitally correct cliched party lines, instead of telling the truth? imagine that eh? the \actual truth?

what makes them think when people traffiking and sexual abuse of kids is such a massive probelm in their countries and cultures...why do these mps believe these people will arrive here in their millions and suddently change all their customs and ways?

[Crimson Dynamo]

its hard to know who to be most pissed off at

the police
the care services
the Pakistani community
religion
humans

the list goes on

[Kyle]

This has been going on for ages and nobody has dared say anything for fear of being branded racist or a 'little Englander'. Doesn't help when you have a town like mine rapidly shift demographics and see the central urban areas transform into little micro cultures within themselves with next to no integration. Sheffield is even worse for it.

Heads should roll and it shouldn't stop with Roger Stone. Makes me sick to see my town in the news for all the wrong reasons.

[the truth]

1400 over 18 years is a phenomenal amount of abuse and cover ups

[Livia]

1400 over 18 years is a phenomenal amount of abuse and cover ups

Makes me wonder how the people who knew about it get to sleep at night.

[the truth]

bigger government 1000s of new laws has made us less safe, so has political correctness gone mad

[arista]

Makes me wonder how the people who knew about it get to sleep at night.


From Radio5
it was because it was more important
to not upset the Pakistani Community.


And the Big Stink today is BBC not using "Asian" word
in many reports.

[joeysteele]

Really horrific incidents,I just get sick of hearing about more and more of these abuses and assaults as to childen and miserable,pathetic people still trying to cling on to their jobs.
Jobs they clearly have done really badly too.

I agree with all that Livia has said really and just hope we hear of many heads rolling now as to these crimes.

[Kizzy]

It's not simply en vogue do this now, it's been highlighted as an issue to be addressed.

'The Policing Plan sets out the strategic vision for policing in the Cleveland Police
area over the period April 2012 to March 2015, and includes the Police Authority and
Chief Constable’s Annual Reports. It is a three-year rolling plan and is submitted to
the Police Authority for their approval and scrutiny.'

Obectives
• Reduce repeat offending
• Reduce repeat victimisation
• Safeguarding vulnerable victims

Improve the Force's ability to identify and tackle repeat offenders of domestic
abuse and sexual offences.
Improve services to domestic abuse and other vulnerable victims by exploring pathways of support.
Improve the Force’s ability to identify and tackle stalking and harassment
'Improve the intelligence picture around child exploitation'
Improve our ability to deal with hate crime.
Consolidate the effective management of violent offenders.
Improve the intelligence gathered from repeat missing from homes.
Consolidate our ability to safely manage Registered Sex Offenders in the
community.

The section on 'vulnerable people' makes no reference to those with disabilities or the elderly, why? as they have not been highlighted as a 'policing priority'.

http://www.cleveland.police.uk/downloads/Publications-Policing-Plans/Policing_Plan_2012-15.pdf

[anne666]

From Radio5
it was because it was more important
to not upset the Pakistani Community.


And the Big Stink today is BBC not using "Asian" word
in many reports.

That was about votes from the community and pressure from Pakistani councillors. This isn't only based on fear of being labelled racist by any means. The report lists catastrophic dereliction of duty from many involved. I wonder how much that has been used to try to justify swathes of unprofessionalism. However the report doesn't back them up to any great extent. These girls were treated as scum in a lot of cases and not worthy of anyone's time or effort. Reading the whole report is the only way to get the real picture. A catalogue of shocking failure and ignoring or trivialising hideous sexual, physical and emotional abuse. To focus on the fear of being labelled racist detracts from the institutional lack of child protection, mismanagement and sexist attitudes towards both sexes in this and other abuse cases.
This is the full inquiry report.

http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham

From today's Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/28/south-yorkshire-police-hmic-report-rotherham
South Yorkshire police face new criticism over handling of major crime


HMIC report finds under-fire police force failed to investigate allegations of major crime including rape and sexual assault




From today's Independent .

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rotherham-abuse-scandal-towns-officials-now-oversee-child-protection-elsewhere-in-britain-9695443.html


Senior former officials at Rotherham council during the years of ignored warnings about the huge scale of sexual grooming and abuse in the town continue to work in prominent childcare positions despite links to one of Britain's worst protection scandals.

The Independent has established that at least three senior officials employed by Rotherham council during the period covered by the inquiry now hold high-ranking roles at other local authorities.



This case is only a tiny part of a nationwide scandal which is largely being ignored.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/culture-denial-rotherham-sexual-abuse-berelowitz-police


Culture of denial' leaving UK children at risk of serious abuse
Deputy children's commissioner Sue Berelowitz says, despite Rotherham and gang violence cases elsewhere, police and authorities are practising 'wilful blindness'

[user104658]

It's sad knowing that relatives of these kids would end up in jail if they found out what happened to their kids. In all child abuse cases really. If I had kids, I honestly don't know what id do and that scares me.

I sometimes consider these things and it genuinely scares me too. Not even because I don't know what I'd do if it was one of my daughters, but because I pretty much DO know that if I got my hands on the perpetrator, heads would literally roll. As in, I would literally bundle them into a van, take them somewhere remote, and painfully murder them.

What's the point in calling the police? They'd probably get 5 years, be out in 3, and then be beyond the reach of anything even approximating justice.

[Ninastar]

I sometimes consider these things and it genuinely scares me too. Not even because I don't know what I'd do if it was one of my daughters, but because I pretty much DO know that if I got my hands on the perpetrator, heads would literally roll. As in, I would literally bundle them into a van, take them somewhere remote, and painfully murder them.

What's the point in calling the police? They'd probably get 5 years, be out in 3, and then be beyond the reach of anything even approximating justice.

i pretty much feel the same. (not that i have kids, but still. even if it was a child I had no relation to, i'd want to hurt them so badly)

[Kizzy]

That was about votes from the community and pressure from Pakistani councillors. This isn't only based on fear of being labelled racist by any means. The report lists catastrophic dereliction of duty from many involved. I wonder how much that has been used to try to justify swathes of unprofessionalism. However the report doesn't back them up to any great extent. These girls were treated as scum in a lot of cases and not worthy of anyone's time or effort. Reading the whole report is the only way to get the real picture. A catalogue of shocking failure and ignoring or trivialising hideous sexual, physical and emotional abuse. To focus on the fear of being labelled racist detracts from the institutional lack of child protection, mismanagement and sexist attitudes towards both sexes in this and other abuse cases.
This is the full inquiry report.

http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham

From today's Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/28/south-yorkshire-police-hmic-report-rotherham





From today's Independent .

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rotherham-abuse-scandal-towns-officials-now-oversee-child-protection-elsewhere-in-britain-9695443.html






This case is only a tiny part of a nationwide scandal which is largely being ignored.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/culture-denial-rotherham-sexual-abuse-berelowitz-police

Thanks anne some great links, a really interesting and eye opening read..

[anne666]

For anyone who believes this is all about white girls being targeted


Why Pakistanis should be angry as everyone else with what happened in Rotherham


http://labourlist.org/2014/08/why-pakistanis-should-be-angry-as-everyone-else-with-what-happened-in-rotherham/

There are links to old articles on this subject. Is this just something else which is being ignored by the authorities?

One of them from last year


Abuse of Asian girls missed because of focus on white victims, says report
Muslim group says many girls in UK do not report attacks because they are frightened to bring shame on their families

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/10/abuse-asian-girls-missed-white-victims

I will never discount in at least the Rotherham case that councillors were more concerned about the Pakistani community vote and pressure from Pakistani councillors.

[Kizzy]

Of course it isn't solely a cultural problem, it does seem to be spun like this atm but it's only part of a rot that has been undercover for many many years.
Blaming the police and social workers is a nonsense, the orders come from much higher in the food chain let's hold them accountable for once.