A report commissioned in the wake of revelations that "at least" 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham has branded the local authority "not fit for purpose" and left it facing takeover by government commissioners. How did it reach this point?
The issue of child sex abuse in Rotherham first came to light in November 2010 when five men from the town's Asian community were jailed for sexual offences against underage girls.
But suspicions were already growing that the scale of the town's problem was far more widespread.Almost two years later, in September 2012, Andrew Norfolk, a journalist on The Times newspaper, published an investigation which revealed a confidential 2010 police report had warned thousands of such crimes were being committed in South Yorkshire each year by networks of Asian men.
The town's former Labour MP, Denis MacShane, claimed police had kept the abuse secret from politicians."The Rotherham police exposed, arrested and broke up an evil gang of internal traffickers who were sent to prison," he said.
"But it is clear the internal trafficking of barely pubescent girls is much more widespread." MPs said it was clear the trafficking of girls as young as 12 was "widespread"
In October 2012, the council, South Yorkshire Police and other agencies set up a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) team to investigate the issues raised in the report, although South Yorkshire Police denied it had been reluctant to tackle child sexual abuse or that "ethnic origin had been a factor" in its decisions.
But the force was criticised by the Home Affairs Select Committee and told by its chairman Keith Vaz they needed to "get a grip".
Rotherham was not the only community in the North and the Midlands to have uncovered such abuse. There have also been arrests or prosecutions of groups of men in 11 towns and cities, including Oldham, Rochdale and Derby.
"In the other cases, overwhelmingly, they were men of Pakistani origin and we need to understand why this has been happening," said Mr Norfolk.
He described a previous report into gang exploitation as a "missed opportunity" because of its failure to look at the proportion of men of Pakistani origin committing such offences.
Yet, despite the concerns, in 2012 no further prosecutions for child sex exploitation took place in Rotherham.
However, the council did say "improved public awareness" had helped it identify more young girls at risk of sexual exploitation in the town.
In January 2013, the town once again fell under the scrutiny of MPs. This time it was the borough council which appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee to answer questions about the lack of prosecutions.
Mr Vaz said the council had not done enough since the 2010 prosecutions.
"In Lancashire there were 100 prosecutions the year before last, in South Yorkshire there were no prosecutions," he said.
"We're talking about hundreds of victims, of vulnerable young girls, who have not been protected because, at the end of the day, what people are looking for are prosecutions."
The council apologised and said it had "let down" victims and their families
The council's chief executive Martin Kimber apologized to "young people and families that have been let down" and blamed "systemic failures".
He also commissioned an independent inquiry, in September 2013, to examine how cases have been handled by social services from 1997 onwards.
In the same month, South Yorkshire Police enlisted the help of children's charity Barnardo's to help tackle child sexual exploitation. Barnardo's subsequently said the council had made improvements.
However, in August 2013, the council's deputy leader stepped down over claims he knew about a relationship between a girl in care and a suspected child abuser. Jahangir Akhtar denied the claims.
In July 2014 the town's mayor Barry Dodson quit over separate claims he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl in 1987. He did not comment on the claims.
Edit.
Tl;DR version: Thousands of kids were raped in England by Muslim only gangs. The government found out about it but refused to stop it and even covered it up for years, citing the fear of being called racist if they were to single out muslims. Thousands were molested. The gov admits it allowed it. Overall, a reason to fight P.C culture.
__________________
Supa-Mayne!
Last edited by long pig on Oct 14th, 2015 at 04:40 AM
It was big news when it happened. Personally I'd like to see prosecutions brought against anyone found to have covered it up or attempted to.
I also don't think this is just a Muslim or Pakistani issue. It goes on in many impoverished communities especially with gangs where 13 and 14 year old girls are latching on to 18-25 year old men and being exploited.
From what I've read, children and early teens are heavily exploited and abused by adults in the more rural areas of the US. The Appalachian communities and similar.
So poverty does seem to play a part, imagine that.
Apathy more than political correctness enables it. Police in the UK are more politicised than ever. They target issues that their political masters want them too. Abuse of children in poverty isn't high on their agenda in any community, Muslim or otherwise.
It was a like example of "poverty", as probably being the cause or at least a large contributing factor in the cases where it's rampant. As everyone knows child abuse happens in practically all circles in some degree.
What has to be remembered here- obvious and terrible cock-up/disaster as it is- is that when it was exposed (and rumours about it had been circulating for years- I remember a Channel 4 documentary on it got shelved a decade back; the pressure to expose was always there), the reaction wasn't "Oh well, they had the right idea with such a gentle and respectful approach, it just didn't work out for them this time." This response was "What in hell is this ridiculous crap that allowed this to happen?"
Pure fury, not just from the public but from other (and central) authorities, leadingto job removals, and, as TI noted, possibly the taking over of an entire elected council.
This is NOT general policy. This was a couple of authorities getting the approach to community relations totally wrong. PC is not taking over in the UK, nor it is it anywhere. The problem is the oldest human one of all- stupidity. That has constant outbreaks worldwide.
__________________
"We've got maybe seconds before Darth Rosenberg grinds everybody into Jawa burgers and not one of you buds has the midi-chlorians to stop her!"
Mr California rides in again to discuss how it is in the 'lesser' parts of the country. Out there in Cali you just enslave Mexicans and lock foreign children up as your house pets.
People are fk'd everywhere. The wealthy just hide it better and prey on each other in more 'colorful' ways.
First it was the south, now it's Appalachia. What's actually more common as for any homogeneous group to hide the actions of its like members. For instance, when millionaire hedge fund managers rape their children's babysitters, it's covered up because ripples are bad for business. When there is sexual abuse in the church, priests, pastors, congregations, and so forth do what they need to in order to keep it hushed.
Your agenda was cute at first, but now it's just dumb. I forgive you, though, since I'm sure you couldn't see past your own smug.
He does this with Islam, he looks for Christians killing each other in Africa to validate his points..its just Rob, its what he does. Most of the time he isn't even serious.
__________________
In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter
KMC Community Forums
Oct 14th, 2015 04:28 AM
