Investigations into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal included local, national and media reviews, inquiries and investigations into the organised child sexual abuse of girls that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England, from the late 1980s until 2013, and particularly the failures of local authorities to act on reports of the abuse throughout most of that period.Helen Pidd (13 July 2015). "Alexis Jay on child sex abuse: 'Politicians wanted to keep a lid on it'", The Guardian.
Evidence of the abuse was first noted in the early 1990s, with reports made to the police and Rotherham Council from at least 2001. The first group conviction took place in 2010. Subsequently, Andrew Norfolk of The Times reported that the abuse in the town was widespread and that the police and council had known about it for over ten years. The Times articles, along with the 2012 trial of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring, prompted the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee to conduct hearings.
In 2013, Rotherham Council commissioned an independent inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay, former chief social work adviser to the Scottish Government. In August 2014, the Jay Report published its recommendations and concluded that an estimated 1,400 children had been sexually abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. The perpetrators were predominantly British-Pakistani men. The majority of victims were White British girls, but British Asian girls in Rotherham were also targeted and received less support or public attention. The failure to address the abuse was attributed to a combination of factors, including fear that the perpetrators' ethnicity would trigger allegations of racism; sexist and classist attitudes toward the mostly working-class victims; lack of a child-centred focus; a desire to protect the town's reputation; and lack of training and resources. Several local authority and police staff members resigned after the report was published. The Independent Police Complaints Commission and the National Crime Agency also opened inquiries in response to the report, with the latter expected to last eight years."NCA begins two-stage investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham" , National Crime Agency, 18 December 2014. "Operation Stovewood—Summary of Terms of Reference" , National Crime Agency.Andrew Norfolk (7 June 2016). "Rotherham abuse inquiry will run for eight years", The Times.
In 2014, the government appointed Louise Casey to conduct an inspection of Rotherham Council, published in January 2015. The Casey report concluded that the council was "not fit for purpose" and had a culture of bullying, sexism, covering up information and silencing whistleblowers. In February 2015 the government replaced the council's elected officers with a team of five commissioners.
Background
The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal refers to the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England, from the late 1980s until 2013. An estimated 1,400 girls, commonly from care home backgrounds, were abused by "grooming gangs" of predominantly British-Pakistani men between 1997 and 2013. Researcher Angie Heal, who was hired by local officials and warned them about child exploitation occurring between 2002 and 2007, has since described it as the "biggest child protection scandal in UK history".
Rotherham has traditionally been a Labour stronghold, and until Sarah Champion was elected in 2012 it had never had a female MP.Helen Pidd (9 February 2015). "Sarah Champion MP: 'The job is fabulous. The lifestyle is living hell'", The Guardian. The council was similarly male-dominated; one Labour insider told The Guardian in 2012: "The Rotherham political class is male, male, male."Helen Pidd (13 November 2012). "Labour party members protest against 'outside' candidate in Rotherham", The Guardian. In May 2014 there were 63 elected members on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council: 57 Labour, four Conservatives, one UKIP and one Independent. The elections in August that year saw a swing to UKIP: 49 Labour, 10 UKIP, 2 Conservatives and 2 Independents. The government disbanded the council in 2015, after the Casey report, and replaced it with a team of five commissioners."Government in Rotherham Council takeover after abuse inquiry", BBC News, 4 February 2015.
Terminology
The term child sexual exploitation (CSE) was first used in 2009 to replace the term child prostitution, which implied a level of consent.Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation: Supplementary Guidance, Department for Education, 2009. CSE is a form of child sexual abuse in which children are offered something—money, drugs, alcohol, food, shelter, or affection—in exchange for sexual activity. Violence and intimidation are common. CSE includes online grooming and localised grooming, formerly known as on-street grooming. Localised grooming involves a group of abusers targeting vulnerable children in a public place, offering them sweets, alcohol, drugs and takeaway food in exchange for sex. The targets can include children in the care of the local authority; in Rotherham, one third of the targeted children were previously known to social services. Perpetrators of group-based CSE are often informally known as "grooming gangs" (a term which has been described by academics and child protection professionals as racially charged).
The Times investigation Background Andrew Norfolk of The Times first wrote about localised grooming in 2003, after moving from London to Leeds, when he wrote a brief story about the Keighley child sex abuse ring. Ann Cryer, MP for Keighley, had complained that "Asian men" were targeting teenage girls outside schools, while parents alleged that police and social services were declining to act. From then until 2010, Norfolk heard of court cases in northern England and the Midlands reporting a similar pattern. Court records showed 17 cases of localised grooming in 13 northern towns since 1997—14 since 2008—in which 56 men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 11–16."The 17 cases identified by The Times which showed a pattern of exploitation", The Times, 5 January 2011."Child protection squad will investigate patterns of sex abuse", The Times, 31 January 2011. Norfolk interviewed two of the affected families, and in January 2011 the first of a series of stories appeared over four pages in The Times, accompanied by an editorial, "Revealed: conspiracy of silence on UK sex gangs"."Revealed: conspiracy of silence on UK sex gangs", The Times (editorial), 5 January 2011. Andrew Norfolk (5 January 2011). "'Some of these men have children the same age; they are bad apples'", The Times. Andrew Norfolk (5 January 2011). "Barnardo's demands inquiry into sex exploitation of British girls", The Times. "The 17 cases identified by The Times which showed a pattern of exploitation", The Times, 5 January 2011. Andrew Norfolk, Richard Ford, Greg Hurst (6 January 2011). "Calls for major police inquiry on 'grotesque' sex gangs", The Times. Norfolk told the Home Affairs Committee in 2013 that council staff and senior police officers called him to thank him; one director of children's services told him: "My staff are jumping for joy in the office today because finally somebody has said what we have not felt able to say."
Murder of Laura Wilson In 2012, Rotherham Council applied to the High Court for an injunction to stop Norfolk publishing an unredacted version of a serious case review written after the murder of a local girl, Laura Wilson. Known in the review as "Child S", Wilson was 17 in October 2010 when she was stabbed 40 times and thrown in the canal by her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Ashtiaq Asghar, an act the police called an "honour killing". She had had a baby four months earlier by a 21-year-old married man. The families of the men, both Pakistani heritage, had apparently been unaware of the relationships and the existence of the child. Tired of being a secret, Wilson decided to tell them. Days later, the ex-boyfriend murdered her. Both men stood trial; the older man was acquitted, and Asghar was jailed for 17 years and six months."Teenager is 'first' white victim of honour killing ", The Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2012."Laura Wilson murder: Rotherham children's board reports", BBC News, 29 May 2012. For length of sentence: Lizze Dearden (30 August 2014). "Rotherham abuse scandal: Authorities' decisions to take away babies born to abused girls caused yet more suffering", The Independent.
Assessed as having an IQ of 56 and a reading and spelling age of 6, Wilson had been the target of localised grooming from at least age 11. The council had referred her to Risky Business three months after her 11th birthday,Andrew Norfolk (2 December 2011). "Murdered girl was victim of Pakistani sex grooming gang", The Times. and when she was 13, Wilson and her family had appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show to discuss children who were out of control. She had also been mentioned in the 2009 criminal inquiry that led to the first five convictions arising out of localised grooming in Rotherham.
The government ordered that the council publish its serious case review. It was published with passages blacked out on 61 of its 144 pages. Norfolk obtained an unredacted version, and found that the council had hidden the men's ethnicity, as well as Wilson's mention during the 2009 criminal inquiry, and the extent of the council's involvement in her care. Michael Gove, then education secretary, accused the council in June 2012 of withholding "relevant and important material"."Secrecy bid over case review of murdered mother, 17, scrapped" , The Yorkshire Post, 8 June 2012. After Gove's intervention, the council withdrew its legal action, and Norfolk published the story under the headline "Officials hid vital facts about men suspected of grooming girl for sex".Andrew Norfolk (7 June 2012). "Officials hid vital facts about men suspected of grooming girl for sex", The Times. Andres Norfolk (7 June 2012). "A case of moral cowardice", The Times.Andrew Norfolk (28 August 2014). "Rotherham child sex abuse: How the truth finally came out", The Times. Dominic Ponsford (27 August 2014). "'Girls suffered as council obfuscated' says Times journalist as Jay report reveals 1,400 Rotherham sex gang victims", PressGazette.
September 2012
On 24 September 2012, Norfolk wrote that the abuse in Rotherham was much more widespread than acknowledged, and that the police had been aware of it for over a decade. His story, "Police files reveal vast child protection scandal", was based on 200 leaked documents, some from Jayne Senior, such as case files and letters from police and social services. The documents included Adele Weir's 2001 report for the Home Office, which linked 54 abused children to the Hussain family; 18 of the children had called Arshid Hussain their "boyfriend".
Cases highlighted by Norfolk included that of a 15-year-old having a broken bottle inserted into her; a 14-year-old being held in a flat and forced to have sex with five men; and a 13-year-old girl, "with disrupted clothing", found by police in a house at 3 am with a group of men who had given her vodka. A neighbour had called the police after hearing the girl scream. The girl was arrested for being drunk and disorderly, but the men were not questioned.