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Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham

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For broader coverage of this topic, see Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham or Jay Report was an independent report by Professor Alexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, to investigate Rotherham Council's handling of child sexual exploitation reports since 1997.[1][2] Published on 26 August 2014, the Jay report said that, as a "conservative estimate", at least 1,400 children, primarily girls from care home backgrounds, had been sexually exploited in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England, between 1997 and 2013.[3] According to the report, children as young as 11 were raped, abducted, trafficked, assaulted and intimidated in the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.[4][5]

The Jay Report said girls would be taken in taxis, almost 'every night', to be abused.[6] 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.[7] The majority of victims were White British girls, but British Asian girls in Rotherham also suffered different types of sexual harassment and molestation. Most perpetrators were Pakistani men.[8] Social isolation and fear of dishonour may have prevented Asian victims from coming forward.[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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12][13][14]

Following the report's publication, 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.[15] The Independent Police Complaints Commission and the National Crime Agency both opened inquiries, the latter expected to last eight years.[16][17] The government appointed Louise Casey to conduct an inspection of Rotherham Council,[18] which concluded that the council had a bullying, sexist culture of covering up information and silencing whistleblowers.[19] In February 2015 the government replaced the council's elected officers with a team of five commissioners.[20] Researcher Angie Heal, who was hired by local officials and warned them about child exploitation occurring between 2002 and 2007, has described the extent of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham as the "biggest child protection scandal in UK history",[21]

Background

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Rotherham

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The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham within South Yorkshire and England

Rotherham is the largest town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, with a population of 109,691 in the 2011 census.[22][a] Around 11.9 per cent of Rotherham's population belonged to black and minority ethnic groups,[22] compared to eight per cent of the population of the borough (population 258,400); three per cent of the population of the borough belonged to the Pakistani-heritage community.[23][22] Unemployment in the borough was above the national average, and 23 per cent of homes consisted of social housing.[24] The area has traditionally been a Labour stronghold. Until Sarah Champion was elected in 2012, it had never had a female MP.[25] The council was similarly male-dominated.[b] The government disbanded the council in 2015 after the Casey report and replaced it with a team of five commissioners.[27]

Terminology

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The term child sexual exploitation (CSE) was first used in 2009 in a Department for Education document,[28][29] intended to replace the term child prostitution, which implied consent. CSE is a form of child sexual abuse in which children are offered something—money, drugs, alcohol, food, a place to stay, or even just affection—for sexual activity. Violence and intimidation are common.[29] CSE includes online grooming and localised grooming, formerly known as on-street grooming.[29][30] 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.[31] 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.[32]

In CSE, the first contact might be made by other children, who hand the target over to an older man. One of the adult perpetrators becomes the "boyfriend", but the girl is used for sex by the larger group and comes to view this as the norm. The abuse can involve being raped multiple times by dozens of men during one event. Victims are often trafficked to other towns, where sexual access to the child might be "sold" to other groups.[c] According to one victim, the perpetrators prefer children aged 12–14. As they get older, the group loses interest and may expect the child to supply younger children in exchange for continued access to the group, on which the child has come to rely for drugs, alcohol, a social life, "affection" or even a home.[33]Adele Gladman and Angie Heal, authors of early reports on the Rotherham abuse, suggest that describing rape, murder and attempted murder as "exploitation" does not help people understand the seriousness of the crimes.[34]

Rotherham Town Hall

Report

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In October 2013, Rotherham Council commissioned Alexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, to conduct an independent inquiry into its handling of child-sexual-exploitation reports since 1997.[1][2] Published on 26 August 2014, the Jay report said that, as a "conservative estimate", at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.[d] According to the report, children as young as 11 were "raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated".[4][5]

Taxi drivers were a "common thread", picking up children for sex from schools and care homes.[35][36] The inquiry team found examples of extreme threats, violence and rape.[e] According to the report, one child withdrew her statements after she received a text "saying the perpetrator had her younger sister and the choice of what happened next was up to her". At least two other families were intimidated and felt unable to go to the police.[37]

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham from 2012

As a result of the abuse, girls became pregnant, sometimes leading to miscarriages and terminations. Several girls were able to look after their babies with help from social services, but others had their babies permanently removed, causing further trauma.[39] Sarah Champion, who in 2012 succeeded Denis MacShane as Labour MP for Rotherham, said this "spoke volumes about the way these children weren't seen as victims at all".[40] According to the report, the police had shown a lack of respect for the victims in the early 2000s, deeming them "undesirables" unworthy of police protection.[41] The concerns of Jayne Senior, the former youth worker, were met with "indifference and scorn".[42][43] Several council staff described themselves as being nervous about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist, since most were of Pakistani heritage; others, the report said, "remembered clear direction from their managers" not to make such identification.[44]

The report noted the experience of Adele Weir[broken anchor], the Home Office researcher, who attempted to raise concerns about the abuse with senior police officers in 2002; she was told not to do so again, and was subsequently sidelined.[5] In some instances, fathers who had tracked down their daughters and tried to remove them from houses where they were being abused were themselves arrested by police.[45] Staff described Rotherham Council as macho, sexist and bullying. There were sexist and harassing comments to female employees, particularly during 1997–2009. The Jay report noted that "[t]he existence of such a culture ... is likely to have impeded the Council from providing an effective, corporate response to such a highly sensitive social problem as child sexual exploitation."[46] Several people who spoke to the Jay inquiry were concerned that Rotherham Council officials were connected to the perpetrators through business interests such as the taxi firm; the police said there was no evidence of this.[47]

Ethnic, religious and cultural factors

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The Jay Report did not specify the ethnicity of the victims or the perpetrators, but it said: "In a large number of the historic cases in particular, most of the victims in the cases we sampled were white British children, and the majority of the perpetrators were from minority ethnic communities."[4] It also described other, less investigated cases in which Asian women and girls were the primary victims,[48] despite the belief that the victims were only white. Social isolation and fear of dishonour prevented Asian victims from coming forward.[49] The report further said that "there is no simple link between race and child sexual exploitation, and across the UK the greatest numbers of perpetrators of CSE are white men".[50] The ethnicity of offenders has also increased community tensions and led to far-right marches and violence in the town. An 81-year-old man was murdered by two white men who called him a "groomer" as they attacked him.[51]

Underreporting due to ethnicity, religion or culture

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According to the Muslim Women's Network UK, cited in the Jay Report, Asian victims may be particularly vulnerable to threats of bringing shame and dishonour to their families,[52] and may have believed that reporting the abuse would be an admission they had violated their cultural beliefs.[53][54] One of the local Pakistani women's groups had described Pakistani girls being targeted by Pakistani taxi drivers and landlords, but they feared reporting to the police out of concerns for their marriage prospects.[55] The report suggested "the under-reporting of exploitation and abuse in minority ethnic communities" should be addressed.[55]

In response to claims that social services had failed to act through political correctness, the Jay Report "found no evidence of children's social care staff being influenced by concerns about the ethnic origins of suspected perpetrators when dealing with individual child protection cases, including CSE".[56] In 2021, an investigation by the Times suggested South Yorkshire Police was not routinely recording the ethnicity of child sexual abuse suspects. In Rotherham, police omitted suspect ethnicity in 67% of cases. The force said it had increased reporting of ethnicity since 2019.[57]

Aftermath

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Following the Jay Report, Roger Stone, Labour leader of Rotherham Council, and Martin Kimber, its chief executive, both resigned.[58] Joyce Thacker, the council's director of children's services, and Shaun Wright, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for South Yorkshire Police from 2012—and Labour councillor in charge of child safety at the council from 2005 to 2010—stepped down in September 2014, under pressure. Wright was asked to step down by Theresa May, then Home Secretary, as well as by members of his own party, including Rotherham's Labour MP Sarah Champion.[59] He resigned from the Labour Party, on 27 August 2014, after an ultimatum by the party to do so or face suspension.[60]

Roger Stone was suspended from the Labour Party, as were councillors Gwendoline Russell and Shaukat Ali, and former deputy council leader Jahangir Akhtar, who had lost his council seat in 2014.[61] Malcolm Newsam was appointed as Children's Social Care Commissioner in October 2014, and subsequently Ian Thomas was appointed as interim director of children's services.[62][63]

Reception

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Denis MacShane

The Jay Report received extensive news coverage.[64] In response, David Crompton, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police from 2012 to 2016, invited the National Crime Agency to conduct an independent inquiry.[16] Keith Vaz, then chair of the Home Affairs Committee, told Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable from 2004 to 2011, that Hughes had failed abuse victims.[65] Theresa May, then Home Secretary, accused the authorities of a "dereliction of duty". She blamed several factors, including Rotherham Council's "institutionalised political correctness", inadequate scrutiny and culture of covering things up, combined with a fear of being seen as racist and a "disdainful attitude" toward the children.[f] Denis MacShane, MP for Rotherham from 1994 until his resignation in 2012 for claiming false expenses, blamed a culture of "not wanting to rock the multicultural community boat".[67] Simon Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, where similar cases were prosecuted, argued that ethnicity, class and the night-time economy were all factors, adding that "a very small minority" in the Asian community have an unhealthy view of women, and that an "unhealthy brand of politics 'imported' from Pakistan", which involved "looking after your own", was partly to blame.[68][69]

Nazir Afzal

British Muslims and members of the British-Pakistani community condemned both the abuse and that it had been covered up.[70] Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for North West England from 2011 to 2015, made the decision in 2011 to prosecute the Rochdale child sex abuse ring after the CPS had turned the case down.[71] Responding to the Jay Report, he said the abuse had no basis in Islam: "Islam says that alcohol, drugs, rape and abuse are all forbidden, yet these men were surrounded by all of these things."[72] Afzal suggested the cases were about male power: "It is not the abusers' race that defines them. It is their attitude to women that defines them." He also said the handling of the cases was a matter of incompetence rather than political correctness, and said that the nature of the night-time economy skewed the picture—more Pakistani-heritage men work at night and might therefore be more involved in that kind of activity.[72] The incoming director of children's services in Rotherham, Ian Thomas, said that the "night-time economy is full of white blokes".[63] Alexis Jay said that working in the night-time economy "presents an opportunity but it doesn't present a motive".[14]

The UK Hindu Council and the Sikh Federation asked that the perpetrators be described as Pakistani Muslims, rather than Asian.[73] Far-right groups Britain First and the English Defence League staged protests in Rotherham, as did Unite Against Fascism.[74]

Endnotes

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  1. ^ Other towns within the borough are Dinnington, Laughton, Maltby, Rawmarsh, Swinton, and Wath-upon-Dearne.
  2. ^ One Labour insider told The Guardian in 2012: "The Rotherham political class is male, male, male."[26]
  3. ^ The Home Affairs Committee defined localised grooming as "a model of child sexual exploitation in which a group of abusers target vulnerable children, including, but not confined to, those who are looked after by a local authority. The group typically makes initial contact with the victims in a public place such as a park, cinema, on the street or at a friend's house. The children are offered gifts and treats—takeaway food, sweets, cigarettes, alcohol or drugs—in exchange for sex, sometimes with dozens of men on the same occasion. There will often be occasions where they are missing from home although such times may be less than 24 hours. The children sometimes identify one offender as a 'boyfriend', and might regard the sexual abuse by multiple offenders as 'normal'. The gangs sometimes use younger men or boys to make the initial approach, reinforcing the misapprehension that the children are involved in consensual relationships with partners of a similar age. In a number of cases, victims are internally trafficked within the UK, being taken to other towns for the express purpose of being 'given' or 'sold' for sexual exploitation."[31]
  4. ^ Jay report (2014): "...the Inquiry concluded that an at least 1400 children were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013. This is likely to be a conservative estimate of the true scale of the problem. We are unable to assess the numbers of other children who may have been at risk of exploitation, or those who were exploited but not known to any agency. This includes some who were forced to witness other children being assaulted and abused."[3]
  5. ^ Reports included "a child [who] was doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, children who were threatened with guns, children who witnessed brutally violent rapes and were threatened that they would be the next victim if they told anyone. Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators, one after the other."[37][38]
  6. ^ Theresa May (2 September 2014): "Professor Alexis Jay's report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 is a terrible account of the appalling failures by Rotherham council, the police and other agencies to protect vulnerable children. What happened was a complete dereliction of duty. ... My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government shares my concerns over the failings by Rotherham council that have been identified. This includes the inadequate scrutiny by councillors, institutionalised political correctness, the covering up of information and the failure to take action against gross misconduct. ... I am clear that cultural concerns—both the fear of being seen as racist and the disdainful attitude to some of our most vulnerable children—must never stand in the way of child protection."[66]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jay 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Alexis Jay will lead child abuse failings probe at Rotherham". BBC News. 1 November 2013.
  3. ^ a b Jay 2014, 29–30.
  4. ^ a b c Jay 2014, 35.
  5. ^ a b c Peachey, Paul (26 August 2014). "Rotherham child abuse report finds 1,400 children subjected to 'appalling' sexual exploitation within 16-year period". The Independent.
  6. ^ "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.

  7. ^ Jay 2014, 1, 35–37.
  8. ^ 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."
  9. ^ Jay 2014, p. 94
  10. ^ Senior 2016, 56.
  11. ^ Jay 2014, 23.
  12. ^ Jay 2014, 69, 101.
  13. ^ Casey 2015, 9, 32–36.
  14. ^ a b Helen Pidd (13 July 2015). "Alexis Jay on child sex abuse: 'Politicians wanted to keep a lid on it'", The Guardian.
  15. ^ "PCC Shaun Wright resigns over Rotherham child abuse scandal". BBC News. 16 September 2014.
  16. ^ a b "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.

  17. ^ Andrew Norfolk (7 June 2016). "Rotherham abuse inquiry will run for eight years", The Times.
  18. ^ Casey 2015, 6.
  19. ^ Casey 2015, 9, 11, 30.
  20. ^ "Government in Rotherham Council takeover after abuse inquiry". BBC News. 4 February 2015.
  21. ^ Gladman & Heal 2017, 28.
  22. ^ a b c Thomas Brinkhoff. "Rotherham (South Yorkshire in Yorkshire and the Humber)", City Population. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  23. ^ Casey 2015, 32.
  24. ^ Jay 2014, 3.
  25. ^ Helen Pidd (9 February 2015). "Sarah Champion MP: 'The job is fabulous. The lifestyle is living hell'", The Guardian.
  26. ^ Helen Pidd (13 November 2012). "Labour party members protest against 'outside' candidate in Rotherham", The Guardian.
  27. ^ "Government in Rotherham Council takeover after abuse inquiry", BBC News, 4 February 2015.
  28. ^ Safeguarding Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation: Supplementary Guidance, Department for Education, 2009.
  29. ^ a b c Gladman & Heal 2017, 65–66.
  30. ^ Home Affairs Committee (a) 2013, 4–5.
  31. ^ a b Home Affairs Committee (a) 2013, 5.
  32. ^ Jay 2014, 1.
  33. ^ Wilson & McKelvie 2015.
  34. ^ Gladman & Heal 2017, 29–30.
  35. ^ Jay 2014, 71–74.
  36. ^ Khaleeli, Homa (3 September 2014). "Rotherham: 'It's sad that it's taken something so horrific to give voice to these girls'". The Guardian.
  37. ^ a b Jay 2014, 36.
  38. ^ "Rotherham child abuse scandal: 1,400 children exploited, report finds". BBC News. 26 August 2014.
  39. ^ Jay 2014, 43.
  40. ^ Lizze Dearden (30 August 2014). "Rotherham abuse scandal: Authorities' decisions to take away babies born to abused girls caused yet more suffering", The Independent.
  41. ^ Jay 2014, 69.
  42. ^ Coker, Margaret; Flynn, Alexis (22 May 2015). "One Woman's Crusade for U.K. Town's Young Rape Victims". Wall Street Journal.
  43. ^ "Charity worker who fought to expose Rotherham child abuse to work for victims". The Yorkshire Post. 14 October 2014. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  44. ^ Becky Johnson, "'Horrific' cases of child abuse in Rotherham", Sky News, 26 August 2014.
  45. ^ "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". The Economist. 30 August 2014. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  46. ^ Jay 2014, 114–115.
  47. ^ Jay 2014, 113.
  48. ^ Jay 2014, p. 94
  49. ^ Jay 2014, p. 94
  50. ^ Jay 2014, 91,94.
  51. ^ Lizzie Dearden. "Rotherham grooming gangs may have abused more than 1,500 victims, investigators reveal". Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  52. ^ Topping, Alexandra (10 September 2013). "Abuse of Asian girls missed because of focus on white victims, says report". The Guardian.
  53. ^ Shabnam Mahmood (24 November 2014). "Yorkshire Muslim girl speaks of grooming ordeal". BBC News. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  54. ^ Khaleeli, Homa (3 September 2014). "Rotherham: 'It's sad that it's taken something so horrific to give voice to these girls'". The Guardian.
  55. ^ a b Jay 2014, 95.
  56. ^ Jay 2014, p. 91.
  57. ^ "Rotherham grooming: South Yorkshire Police not recording ethnicity". BBC News. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  58. ^ "Rotherham child abuse: Martin Kimber, council chief exec, to step down". BBC News. 8 September 2014.
  59. ^ Pidd, Helen (27 August 2014). "Shaun Wright's record in Rotherham comes under uncomfortable scrutiny". The Guardian.
    "PCC Shaun Wright resigns over Rotherham child abuse scandal". BBC News. 16 September 2014.

    "Rotherham abuse scandal: Children's services director Joyce Thacker quits". BBC News. 19 September 2014.

  60. ^ "Rotherham child abuse: Police commissioner quits Labour". BBC News. 27 August 2014.

    "Police Commissioner Shaun Wright Will Be Suspended By Labour If He Does Not Resign". Huffington Post (UK). 27 August 2014.

  61. ^ "Labour party members suspended over abuse scandal". ITV News. 2 September 2014.
  62. ^ Rotherham BC, "Rotherham Borough Council's response to Department of Education announcement" Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, 7 October 2014.
  63. ^ a b Pidd, Helen (17 December 2014). "Incoming Rotherham children's chief: 'It's the most difficult job in Britain'". The Guardian.
  64. ^ Boyd 2015, 7–8.
  65. ^ "Ex Rotherham police chief 'failed' abuse victims". BBC News. 9 September 2014.
  66. ^ Theresa May (2 September 2014). "Child Sex Abuse (Rotherham)", Hansard, vol. 585.
  67. ^ Gordon Rayner (27 August 2014). "Denis MacShane: I was too much of a 'liberal leftie' and should have done more to investigate child abuse", The Daily Telegraph.

    "Denis MacShane jailed for MP expenses fraud", BBC News, 23 December 2013.

  68. ^ Chakelian, Anoosh (28 August 2014). "How have MPs dealt with cases like the Rotherham child abuse scandal in the past?". New Statesman.
  69. ^ Bingham, John (31 August 2014). "Rotherham: politics 'imported from Pakistan' fuelled sex abuse cover-up – MP". The Daily Telegraph.
  70. ^ Trevor Grundy (28 August 2014). "Political correctness about Muslims may have led UK officials to ignore reports of sex abuse", The Washington Post.

    "Real or imagined: Racism 'fear' over Rotherham child abuse". BBC News. 27 August 2014.

  71. ^ Wertheimer, Fay (21 November 2012). "Nazir Afzal: how the CPS plans to bring more child abusers to justice". The Guardian.
  72. ^ a b Gentleman, Amelia (3 September 2014). "Nazir Afzal: 'There is no religious basis for the abuse in Rotherham'". The Guardian.
  73. ^ Dearden, Lizzie (28 February 2016). "Sikh group calls for politicians and media to stop using term 'Asian' to describe Rotherham grooming gang". The Independent.
  74. ^ Palmer, Ewan (28 August 2014). "Rotherham Child Abuse Scandal: EDL and Britain First Stage Protests Following 'Appalling' Report". International Business Times.

    Williams, Martin (13 September 2014). "EDL supporters attack police during Rotherham sex abuse protest". The Guardian.

Works cited

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The article cites the following books and reports. All other sources are listed in the References section only.

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