100 UK officers probed over abuse case

In investigation is trying to identify more than 100 British police officers to determine how they handled the case of child sexual exploitation.

Investigators looking at how British police treated complaints of child sexual exploitation in the town of Rotherham are working to identify more than 100 officers.

The Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) said it is continuing to examine police conduct exactly a year on from the publication of the Jay Report, which shocked the nation with the scale of child rape, trafficking and grooming it uncovered in the South Yorkshire town.

Professor Alexis Jay's report described how more than 1400 children were sexually exploited by gangs of mainly Asian males in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

And it was scathing about a culture among police and council officials which ignored the industrial scale of abuse, instead treating the victims as troublesome teenagers.

The IPCC says it has received 47 referrals from South Yorkshire Police since the publication of the Jay Report, involving more than 100 allegations.

"Analysis of all the referrals has so far identified more than 60 officers," a spokeswoman said.

"Further assessments are being carried out to establish the specific allegations against these individuals to determine what further actions are needed.

"Work is ongoing to identify more than 100 officers who are referenced in the referrals but are unnamed."

The Jay Report was commissioned by the council after a high profile trial and a series of damning stories in The Times about what was happening in the town.

Its impact was generated by the sheer scale of offending that it outlined and the horrific details it included of what had happened to girls as young as 11.

Prof Jay said at the time she had found "utterly appalling" 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".

"They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated," she said.

Rotherham Council and South Yorkshire Police were roundly criticised in its wake and a series off high profiles resignations culminated in the departure of South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright, who was the councillor in charge of Rotherham's children's services between 2005 and 2010.

A further review of Rotherham Council by the Government's Troubled Families chief, Louise Casey, heaped more criticism on an authority she labelled as "not fit for purpose" and "in denial" and the then communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles handed over its powers to a panel of appointed commissioners.

Both the council and the police say their focus over the last 12 months has been on building trust among survivors.

South Yorkshire Police says it now has a team of more than 60 officers working on child sexual exploitation and the National Crime Agency has been brought in to investigate historical crimes.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world