1,400 Rotherham children 'sexually exploited over 16-year period'

[jimmy olsen]

Unbelivably terrible. 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/rotherham-children-sexually-abused-report

About 1,400 Rotherham children 'sexually exploited over 16-year period'

Report claims police and council agencies failed victims, some of whom were threatened with guns and gang-raped

About 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham over a 16-year period, according to a report that concluded "it is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered".

The uncompromising report on events in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013 said in more than a third of these cases the youngsters were already known to child protection agencies.

Warning also of "blatant" collective failures by the council's leadership, the report by Professor Alexis Jay prompted the resignation of the council's Labour leader.

Roger Stone, the leader, said: "Having considered the report, I believe it is only right that I, as leader, take responsibility on behalf of the council for the historic failings that are described so clearly in the report and it is my intention to do so.

"For this reason, I have today agreed with my Labour group colleagues that I will be stepping down as leader with immediate effect."

Despite Stone's resignation, chief executive Martin Kimber said no council officers will face disciplinary action.

Jay said she found examples of "children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone".

Jay said: "They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated." She said she found girls as young as 11 had been raped by large numbers of men.

The report said failures of the political and officer leadership of Rotherham council over the first 12 years she looked at were blatant, as the seriousness of the problem was underplayed by senior managers and was not seen as a priority by South Yorkshire police. Jay said police "regarded many child victims with contempt".

These failures occured despite three reports between 2002 and 2006 "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 added.

The report said: "By far the majority of perpetrators were described as Asian by victims." But, she said, councillors seemed to think is was a one-off problem they hoped would go away and "several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist".

She added: "Others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so."

The spotlight first fell on Rotherham in 2010 when five men, described by a judge as sexual predators, were given lengthy jail terms after they were found guilty of grooming teenage girls for sex. The prosecution was the first of a series of high-profile cases in the past four years that have revealed the exploitation of young girls in towns and cities including Rochdale, Derby and Oxford.

Following the 2010 case, the Times claimed that details from 200 restricted-access documents showed how police and child protection agencies in the South Yorkshire town had extensive knowledge of these activities for a decade, yet a string of offences went unprosecuted.

The allegations led to a range of official investigations, including one by the home affairs select committee.

Last year, the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright, said there had been "a failure of management" at South Yorkshire police as he responded to a report into the force on this issue by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

The report concluded: "No one knows the true scale of the child sexual exploitation (CSE) 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."

In response, Rotherham council, which commissioned the report, said it accepted the findings, including the statement that failures "almost without exception" were attributed to senior managers in child protection services, elected councillors and senior police officers.

It accepted that failures were not down to "frontline social or youth workers who are acknowledged in the report as repeatedly raising serious concerns about the nature and extent of this kind of child abuse".

The council's chief executive, Kimber, said: "The report does not make comfortable reading in its account of the horrific experiences of some young people in the past and I would like to reiterate our sincere apology to those who were let down when they needed help."

"The report confirms that our services have improved significantly over the last five years and are stronger today than ever before.

"This is important because it allows me to reassure young people and families that, should anyone raise concerns, we will take them seriously and provide them with the support they need.

"However, that must not overshadow – and certainly does not excuse – the finding that for a significant amount of time the council and its partners could and should have done more to protect young people from what must be one of the most horrific forms of abuse imaginable."

[DGuller]

Damn.

[Syt]

1400?? WTF?

[Martinus]

Pfft. Read about Catholics in Ireland and Benelux. This is nothing.

[The Brain]

I don't understand the chain of events from the article.

[Admiral Yi]

I found it puzzling as well.  Too much passive voice.

[Syt]

I found it puzzling as well.  Too much passive voice.

Usually a way to avoid culpability or assign direct blame. "Mistakes were made" vs "I made a mistake" or "X made a mistake."

[Gups]

I don't understand the chain of events from the article.

I'm not sure if there really was a chain of events. Various men, and groups of men often taxi-drivers and mostly of Pakistani origin exploited girls (almost all white, from poor and vulnerable backgrounds over a long period. The men would initially groom the girls - giving them gifts, alcohol, drugs - before effectively pimping them out. There's a lot of variance within that but that appears to be the basic model. I don't think it was a single organised group.

The police and the social services largely ignored reports, preferring to blame the victims. It's also contended that they were afraid of upsetting the Pakastani community. 

[Admiral Yi]

I can see why the Guarniad was dancing around then.

[Gups]

Yeah. The Grauniad will focus on the response of the authorities, acknolidging that there may be an issue with come elements of Muslim culture but stressing that the vast majority of men on the sex offenders register are white.

The Telegraph will focus on the Islamic angle, with the failure of the authorities being due to political correctness gone mad.

The victims will suffer the additional indignity of being the subject of a skirmish in the UK's culture wars.

[Martinus]

I think it is also a distinct style of British media to write about ongoing criminal investigations in that way, isn't it?

[Sheilbh]

I think it is also a distinct style of British media to write about ongoing criminal investigations in that way, isn't it?

It is, but I don't think that's the case here. They're just quoting the report and various statements at some length.

[CountDeMoney]

Pfft. Read about Catholics in Ireland and Benelux. This is nothing.

Nice try, fag.  Even pedophile priests would draw the line on dousing kids in gasoline and threatening them with actual fire, as opposed to metaphorical fire.

[Martim Silva]

Summary of the case from the Guardian:

- About 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham over a 16-year period, although no one knows the true scale of exploitation over the years. In more than a third of these cases the youngsters were already known to child protection agencies.

- The report by Professor Alexis Jay prompted the resignation of the council's Labour leader, Roger Stone, who said he was stepping down with immediate effect. Despite Stone's resignation, chief executive Martin Kimber said no council officers will face disciplinary action.

- Girls were raped by several men, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten, and intimidated. There were 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. Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of perpetrators.

- Within social care, the scale and seriousness of the problem was underplayed by senior managers. At an operational level, the police gave no priority to child sexual exploitation, regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime.

- The possible reasons for neglect are unclear but may include denial that this could occur in Rotherham, concern that the ethnic element could damage community cohesion, worry about the borough's reputation and fears that publicity might compromise police operations.


For those interested, here is a link to the full report:

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

This is the executive summary, for those that don't want to read it all:

No one knows the true scale of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham over the years. Our conservative estimate is that approximately 1400 children were sexually exploited over the full Inquiry period, from 1997 to 2013.

In just over a third of cases, children affected by sexual exploitation were previously known to services because of child protection and neglect. It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered. They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten, and intimidated. There were 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. Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators.

This abuse is not confined to the past but continues to this day. In May 2014, the caseload of the specialist child sexual exploitation team was 51. More CSE cases were held by other children's social care teams. There were 16 looked after children who were identified by children's social care as being at serious risk of sexual exploitation or having been sexually exploited. In 2013, the Police received 157 reports concerning child sexual exploitation in the Borough.

Over the first twelve years covered by this inquiry, the collective failures of political and officer leadership were blatant. From the beginning, there was growing evidence that child sexual exploitation was a serious problem in Rotherham. This came from those working in residential care and from youth workers who knew the young people well.

Within social care, the scale and seriousness of the problem was underplayed by senior managers. At an operational level, the Police gave no priority to CSE, regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime. Further stark evidence came in 2002, 2003 and 2006 with three reports known to the Police and the Council, which could not have been clearer in their description of the situation in Rotherham. The first of these reports was effectively suppressed because some senior officers disbelieved the data it contained. This had led to suggestions of cover- up. The other two reports set out the links between child sexual exploitation and drugs, guns and criminality in the Borough. These reports were ignored and no action was taken to deal with the issues that were identified in them.

In the early 2000s, a small group of professionals from key agencies met and monitored large numbers of children known to be involved in CSE or at risk but their managers gave little help or support to their efforts. Some at a senior level in the Police and children's social care continued to think the extent of the problem, as described by youth workers, was exaggerated, and seemed intent on reducing the official numbers of children categorised as CSE. At an operational level, staff appeared to be overwhelmed by the numbers involved. There were improvements in the response of management from about 2007 onwards. By 2009, the children's social care service was acutely understaffed and over stretched, struggling to cope with demand.

Seminars for elected members and senior officers in 2004-05 presented the abuse in the most explicit terms. After these events, nobody could say 'we didn't know'. In 2005, the present Council Leader chaired a group to take forward the issues, but there is no record of its meetings or conclusions, apart from one minute.

By far the majority of perpetrators were described as 'Asian' by victims, yet throughout the entire period, councillors did not engage directly with the Pakistani-heritage community to discuss how best they could jointly address the issue. Some councillors seemed to think it was a one-off problem, which they hoped would go away. Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.

In December 2009, the Minister of State for Children and Families put the Council's children's safeguarding services into intervention, following an extremely critical Ofsted report. The Council was removed from intervention thirteen months later.

The Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board and its predecessor oversaw the development of good inter-agency policies and procedures applicable to CSE. The weakness in their approach was that members of the Safeguarding Board rarely checked whether these were being implemented or whether they were working. The challenge and scrutiny function of the Safeguarding Board and of the Council itself was lacking over several years at a time when it was most required.

  In 2013, the council leader, who has held office since 2003, apologised for the quality of the Council's safeguarding services being less than it should have been before 2009. This apology should have been made years earlier, and the issue given the political leadership it needed.

There have been many improvements in the last four years by both the Council and the Police. The Police are now well resourced for CSE and well trained, though prosecutions remain low in number. There is a central team in children's social care which works jointly with the Police and deals with child sexual exploitation. This works well but the team struggles to keep pace with the demands of its workload. The Council is facing particular challenges in dealing with increased financial pressures, which inevitably impact on frontline services. The Safeguarding Board has improved its response to child sexual exploitation and holds agencies to account with better systems for file audits and performance reporting. There are still matters for children's social care to address such as good risk assessment, which is absent from too many cases, and there is not enough long-term support for the child victims.

One extract from the report proper:

In two of the cases we read, fathers tracked down their daughters and tried to remove them from houses where they were being abused, only to be arrested themselves when police were called to the scene. In a small number of cases (which have already received media attention) the victims were arrested for offences such as breach of the peace or being drunk and disorderly, with no action taken against the perpetrators of rape and sexual assault against children.

It is pretty telling of the state of a nation when the authorities put Political Correctness above the safety of (at least) more than a thousand little girls.

And this was just one relatively small town. Since several cases of grooming of this kind have been uncovered all over England, the actual dimension of the problem may very well be far greater.

More to the point, most of those involved have no intention to resign. Although it seems to me that it is not resignations what should be sought here, but the pressing of criminal charges; these people were active enablers of child abuse on an industrial scale.

While as a staunch pro-european I do not in any way approve of the UKIP, this MEP's comments summon my thoughts:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/27/rotherham-child-abuse-police-commissioner-urged-resign

I categorically call for the resignation of everyone directly and indirectly involved in this case. The Labour council stand accused of deliberately ignoring child sex abuse victims for 16 years. The apologies we have heard are totally insincere and go nowhere near repairing the damage done.

These resignations should include South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright. I also call for a criminal investigation by a force not directly linked with this scandal into all those implicated in this scandal. There is no place for these people in public life.

[alfred russel]

Pfft. Read about Catholics in Ireland and Benelux. This is nothing.

The first thing I did opening the link was skim the article for "Catholic" and "priest".