A shocking investigation discovered that over 50 police officers all kept their jobs after ignoring the abuse, trafficking, and grooming of 1,400 girls in Rotherham.
Following a string of offenses committed between 1997 and 2013, the long-awaited report by the police watchdog concluded that South Yorkshire Police “failed to protect vulnerable children.”
Despite 265 distinct allegations being made by more than 50 complainants, none of the 47 current and former officers under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) were disciplined.
The IOPC investigation documented how officers, who were instructed to prioritize other crimes, viewed the abuse of children as young as 12 as “consenting” on their part.
It described how one parent who was worried about a missing daughter claimed they were informed by an officer that having a “older Asian boyfriend” was “a fashion accessory” for girls in Rotherham and that their daughter would outgrow it.
43 complaints made against the force were upheld by the watchdog. Among these errors were:
“We found that officers were not fully aware, or able to deal with, Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSE) offences and showed insufficient empathy towards survivors who were vulnerable children and young people,” said IOPC Director-General Michael Lockwood in the report.
“We saw examples of SYP viewing children and young people as “consenting” to their exploitation,” the report states. “We also saw examples of a police culture that did not always recognize survivors as victims or understand that, often, neither did those being groomed or abused.”
When describing how CSE in Rotherham was handled by a small, “overwhelmed,” unit that also had a number of other responsibilities, the IOPC pointed out systemic issues within South Yorkshire Police at the time.
According to the report, there is “little evidence that SYP’s leadership identified, and acted on, emerging concerns about (CSE).” The force was criticized for giving other crimes—such as burglary and vehicle crime—priority over CSE.
“Our report demonstrates how SYP failed to protect vulnerable children and young people,” said Steve Noonan, director of major investigations for the IOPC.
It was simply ill-prepared to handle the organized grooming and abuse of young girls on the scale we encountered, like other agencies in Rotherham at the time.
The largest investigation the watchdog has conducted outside of the Hillsborough disaster probe, Mr. Noonan praised the survivors of CSE in Rotherham who came forward to assist his investigators.
According to him, 265 distinct allegations were made by 51 people, including 44 survivors.
Eight of the 47 officers under investigation had cases to answer for misconduct, and six more had cases for gross misconduct.
Sanctions were given to five of these officers, ranging from management action to a final written warning. An independent panel determined that the case against another, who was the subject of a South Yorkshire Police misconduct hearing earlier this year, was unfounded.
According to the IOPC, many officers had retired and were therefore unable to face disciplinary action. There were only two cases that progressed to a public adjudication hearing.
‘I am disappointed that this report fails to make any significant recommendations beyond what South Yorkshire Police have already accepted and implemented from prior investigations some years ago,’ said Alan Billings, PCC of South Yorkshire.
“It reiterates what earlier reports and reviews have demonstrated—that there were unacceptable practices between 1997 and 2013—but it fails to pinpoint any individual accountability.
It disappoints victims and survivors as a result.
“A significant deal of time and money have been invested for few new findings or accountability,” Dr. Billings stated.
The force was now “on a path of continual improvement,” he claimed, adding that it was wrong that police had allegations of misconduct “hanging over them for so long.”
Tim Forber, the deputy head constable for South Yorkshire, stated: “We entirely endorse the conclusions of the IOPC report, which broadly resemble those emphasized by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014.”
The stark reality of our shortcomings in tackling CSE was brought home by the Jay Report. CSE victims were let down by us. I sincerely apologize for our failure to recognize their vulnerability and victim status. They were entitled to more from us.
“The brave stories of these girls prompted a seismic change in the way South Yorkshire Police and the larger police force handled crimes of this sort.”
Even while I’m sure we’re a totally different force now, Mr. Forber declared, “I won’t lose sight of the fact that we made mistakes and let down victims.”
“It shows the British public the level of disregard shown by South Yorkshire Police to female victims of sexual exploitation, it explains that even by the pathetically low standards of the police service it was “okay” to not investigate these crimes properly or at all, and it will demonstrate how the system of police complaints has provided zero accountability and needs reform,” said David Greenwood, a lawyer for 80 Rotherham CSE survivors.
An abuse victim from the Rotherham grooming ring claims her abuser treated her like a “dead body on a slab in a morgue” and called him a “absolute monster.”
Sammy Woodhouse, 35, was sexually molested as a 14-year-old by ringleader Arshid ‘Ash’ Hussain and boldly waived her anonymity as a rape victim to expose the paedophile gang.
Hussain subjected her to abhorrent treatment, including rape, assaults, and threats to harm her family; in 1999, Sammy, then 15 years old, became pregnant with the 25-year-child. old’s
Opening out about her experience on Crime+Investigation programme Survivors, she explained how she was ‘totally out of her depth’ as a teenager and had no idea how ‘dangerous’ Hussain would be.
‘I was pretty much his sex doll; he was an absolute monster. I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue’, Sammy said.
Hussain was part of a gang in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who along with many other groups abused over 1,000 children between 1997 and 2013. He was jailed for 35 years in 2016 for 23 offences involving nine women, including Sammy.
‘I grew up in Rotherham, about two and a half miles from the town centre’, said Sammy. ‘I was your average, everyday little girl I suppose.’
From the age of four Sammy’s dream was to be a dancer, and at 11-years-old she joined a national aerobics squad and began dancing all over the country
‘It was great. We would get a minibus and go to my coach and manager’s house in the morning and get your hair and make-up done and we’d all chant songs,’ she recalled.
However when her grades at school began to slip, her parents pulled her from the dance team, with Sammy admitting: ‘I started to develop a little bit of a lip, so my parents thought by doing that as a punishment would be the best thing.
‘I think for me when I stopped dancing it had a massive effect, it was something I focused my whole life around. So for that to be stopped and taken away, it did affect things.’
Without dancing to pass the time, Sammy began spending more time with her friends, spending evenings in the park drinking and smoking.
‘There was a particular area where my dad grew up and he hated me being there’, said Sammy. ‘He always said if you go out you are not allowed to be in that area.
‘It was known for people going out smoking cannabis, drinking, my dad didn’t want me involved in that and my life had gone from being a dancer to going up to the park with a packet of fags and litre of White Lightning with my mates. That was what my life was, that was cool for us to do.’
Sammy first met Hussain through a friend and she quickly became besotted as he groomed the teen by taking her out, buying her presents, and paying her compliments.
‘I was on my local shop with a friend and he started to drive up the street in a silver Astra and I will never forget the first moment I saw him,’ said Sammy.
‘He was good looking, he was well dressed, he had a big gold chain on…I was just instantly mesmerised by him.’
I just thought, “Wow, who is he?” she continued. He gave me the impression that I was an adult, which I remember wanting to be as a child since I always thought I should be older than I was.
Sammy claims that although though she was only 14, she seemed even younger when they first met, and she soon began spending more and more time with her abuser.
Things between him and myself swiftly escalated, she claimed.
“I had a curfew and I was often violating curfew and that is how my parents started to suspect things, because I was being late and sometimes not even coming home at all,” the student said.
Sammy explained how Hussain distanced her from her family by blaming Sammy’s father alone for the family’s issues, which resulted in her being grounded when her parents learned about the relationship.
She remarked, “What he did was actually extremely intelligent.” He understood the dynamics of my family; he was aware that my mum was more of a best friend and that my dad was more strict. As a result, he began to make me more hostile toward my dad than toward my mother.
Therefore, he would assert, “Actually, your dad doesn’t like me; however, your mother does; however, she won’t ever confess it because she is afraid of your dad.
I started to go missing quite a bit, not just for days, but for weeks and months at a time, she continued.
Sammy claims that Hussain was a drug dealer who was dreaded in the neighborhood, but as a young, naive girl, she was unaware of the potential repercussions.
“A lot of people scared him, and that wasn’t necessarily anything I had never heard of for me where I live and grew up,” she said. “I didn’t really care; it is what it is,” I said. When you’re young, you don’t consider the effects; I just went along with it.
Along with sexual assault, Hussain coerced Sammy into 20 counts of criminal mischief, driving a stolen automobile during a post office raid, and other crimes.
She admitted, “I was utterly out of my depth.” “I didn’t see it was hazardous and wrong. I thought I’m a teenager having a little fun, how terrible can things get?” she said.
Sammy managed to flee her abuser when he was imprisoned for a serious crime in 2001, but she was crucial in exposing the gang when she approached The Times undercover with her allegations, sparking the Jay Inquiry.