Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal

Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
Rotherham town centre, March 2010
Date1970s–present
LocationRotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Coordinates53°25′48″N 1°21′25″W / 53.430°N 1.357°W / 53.430; -1.357
EventsChild sexual abuse of an estimated 1,400 (1970s–2013, according various reports including Jayne Senior) majority aged approximately 11–16.[1]
ReporterAndrew Norfolk of The Times, with information from Jayne Senior, youth worker[2]
InquiriesHome Affairs Committee (2013–2014)[3]
Jay inquiry (2014)[4]
Casey inquiry (2015)[5]
TrialsSheffield Crown Court, 2010, 2016–2017, convictions for rape, conspiracy to rape, aiding and abetting rape, sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, indecent assault, false imprisonment, procurement. Numerous individual prosecutions regarding child sexual exploitation over the years, including 8 in 2012, 9 in 2013, and 1 in the first quarter of 2014[6]
Convictionsc. 60 (rising) Operation Central: 5 men
Operation Clover: 18 men & 2 women
Operation Stovewood: 21 men (trials ongoing as of August 2019)
AwardsAndrew Norfolk: Orwell Prize (2013), Journalist of the Year (2014)[7]
Jayne Senior: MBE (2016 Birthday Honours)[8]

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consists of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England, from the late 1980s until 2013[9] and the failure of local authorities to act on reports of the abuse throughout most of that period.[10] 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",[11] with one report estimating that 1,400 girls were abused by "grooming gangs" between 1997 and 2013.[9] Evidence of the abuse was first noted in the early 1990s, when care home managers investigated reports that children in their care were being picked up by taxi drivers.[12] From at least 2001, multiple reports passed names of alleged perpetrators, several from one family, to the police and Rotherham Council. The first group conviction took place in 2010, when five British-Pakistani men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 12–16.[13]

The period January 2011 onwards Andrew Norfolk of The Times pressed the issue, reporting in 2012 that the abuse in the town was widespread and that the police and council had known about it for over ten years.[a] 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.[16] Following this and further articles from Norfolk, Rotherham Council commissioned an independent inquiry led by Professor Alexis Jay. In August 2014 the Jay report concluded that an estimated 1,400 children[17] had been sexually abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, predominantly by British-Pakistani men.[15]

The victims were ethnically diverse; with British Asian girls in Rotherham also suffering,[18] despite the claim that the victims were only white. Social isolation and fear of dishonour prevented Asian victims from coming forward.[19]

A care worker, who worked at children's homes from 2003–2007, told the BBC men would arrive almost 'every night' to collect girls, who escaped using a range of methods and were then usually driven off in taxis.[20] The abuse included gang rape, forcing children to watch rape, dousing them with petrol and threatening to set them on fire, threatening to rape their mothers and younger sisters, as well as trafficking them to other towns.[21] There were pregnancies (one at age 12), pregnancy terminations, miscarriages, babies raised by their mothers, in addition to babies removed, causing further trauma.[22][23][24][25]

The failure to address the abuse was attributed to a combination of factors revolving around race, class, religion and gender—fear that the perpetrators' ethnicity would trigger allegations of racism; contemptuous and sexist 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.[26][27][10]

A survivor of the Rotherham Grooming Gang Scandal, Ella Hill, described the serious racial abuse she faced by her attackers - “As a teenager, I was taken to various houses and flats above takeaways in the north of England, to be beaten, tortured and raped over 100 times. I was called a “white slag” and “white c***” as they beat me.”[28]

Rotherham Council's chief executive, its director of children's services, as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire Police all resigned.[29] The Independent Police Complaints Commission and the National Crime Agency both opened inquiries, the latter expected to last eight years.[30][31] The government appointed Louise Casey to conduct an inspection of Rotherham Council.[32] Published in January 2015, the Casey report concluded that the council had a bullying, sexist culture of covering up information and silencing whistleblowers; it was "not fit for purpose".[33] In February 2015 the government replaced the council's elected officers with a team of five commissioners.[34] As a result of new police inquiries, 19 men and two women were convicted in 2016 and 2017 of sexual offences in the town dating back to the late 1980s; one of the ringleaders was jailed for 35 years.[35]

  1. ^ "Rotherham abuse scandal whistleblower: True number of victims likely to be 2,000". The Star. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  2. ^ Janice Turner (19 March 2016). "The Rotherham Whistleblower", The Times magazine.
  3. ^ Home Affairs Committee (c) 2014.
  4. ^ Jay 2014.
  5. ^ Casey 2015.
  6. ^ Jay 2014, p. 31.
  7. ^ "Andrew Norfolk named journalist of the year as Times and Sunday Times claim seven British Journalism Awards", Press Gazette, 2 December 2014.

    Martinson, Jane (28 September 2014). "Rotherham child sex scandal: Andrew Norfolk on how he broke the story", The Guardian.

  8. ^ "Rotherham whistleblower Jayne Senior appointed MBE", BBC News, 10 June 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Rotherham abuse scandal: How we got here". BBC News. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Pidd13July2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Gladman & Heal 2017, 28.
  12. ^ Senior 2016, 56.
  13. ^ Jay 2014, 23.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference NorfolkJan2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Norfolk24Sept2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Home Affairs Committee (a) 2013, 3–4.
  17. ^ "Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997–2013)". Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  18. ^ Jay 2014, p. 94: "The UK Muslim Women's Network produced a report on CSE in September 2013 which drew on 35 case studies of women from across the UK who were victims, the majority of whom were Muslim. It highlighted that Asian girls were being sexually exploited where authorities were failing to identify or support them."
  19. ^ Jay 2014, p. 94: "The Deputy Children's Commissioner's report reached a similar conclusion to the Muslim Women's Network research, stating 'one of these myths was that only white girls are victims of sexual exploitation by Asian or Muslim males, as if these men only abuse outside of their own community, driven by hatred and contempt for white females. This belief flies in the face of evidence that shows that those who violate children are most likely to target those who are closest to them and most easily accessible.' The Home Affairs Select Committee quoted witnesses saying that cases of Asian men grooming Asian girls did not come to light because victims 'are often alienated and ostracised by their own families and by the whole community, if they go public with allegations of abuse.'
  20. ^ "Rotherham child abusers 'brazen', says care home worker", BBC News, 29 August 2014.
    Keith Perry (29 August 2014). "Rotherham: 'Brazen' sex abusers sent taxis to collect girls from children's home", The Daily Telegraph.

    Olivia Goldhill and Ju Zhang (7 June 2015). "A Rotherham abuse survivor speaks out", The Sunday Telegraph.

  21. ^ Jay 2014, 1, 35–37.
  22. ^ Jay 2014, 43.
  23. ^ Senior 2016, 148–149.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Telegraph2Feb2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dearden30Aug2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Jay 2014, 69, 101.
  27. ^ Casey 2015, 9, 32–36.
  28. ^ Hill, Ella (2018). "Voices. As a Rotherham grooming gang survivor". The Independent.
  29. ^ "PCC Shaun Wright resigns over Rotherham child abuse scandal". BBC News. 16 September 2014.
  30. ^ "NCA begins two-stage investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham" Archived 9 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, National Crime Agency, 18 December 2014.

    "Operation Stovewood—Summary of Terms of Reference" Archived 31 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, National Crime Agency.

  31. ^ Andrew Norfolk (7 June 2016). "Rotherham abuse inquiry will run for eight years", The Times.
  32. ^ Casey 2015, 6.
  33. ^ Casey 2015, 9, 11, 30.
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc31130750 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC26Feb2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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