Rotherham child sexual exploitation by Pakistani gangs

 

 

 

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consists of the organised child sexual abuse of girls 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, primarily from care home backgrounds, 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]

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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.^[28] The Independent Police Complaints Commission and the National Crime Agency both opened inquiries, the latter expected to last eight years.^[29][30] The government appointed Louise Casey to conduct an inspection of Rotherham Council.^[31] 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".^[32] In February 2015 the government replaced the council's elected officers with a team of five commissioners.^[33] 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 

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