Men able to abuse children in Rotherham for years after police had their names, watchdog finds

South Yorkshire Police had the names of some sexual abusers in Rotherham 14 years before they were convicted, and their inaction allowed more children to be abused, a police watchdog report has found.

The town was rocked by scandal after the Alexis Jay Report, published in August 2014, found at least 1,400 children, some as young as 11, had been victims of grooming gangs there between 1997 and 2013.

Two whistleblowers filed a complaint against senior police officers at South Yorkshire Police (SYP) for failing to act on information to protect children.

Youth worker Jayne Senior and former strategic drugs analyst Angie Heal were told their complaint was successful in June 2022, but the report has not been published until now as the force objected to the findings.

On Friday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published Operation Amazon which upheld the complaint "on the basis that over a number of years it appeared that SYP had actionable intelligence which senior officers could and should have addressed and taken responsibility for, but there was no co-ordinated response".

Reacting, Ms Senior and Ms Heal said in a statement: "This has been a seven-year campaign and fight for us, to get senior officers finally held to account.

"We are disappointed that they still have not been named, but we are pleased and relieved that as a result of our work - and with the vital support of the South Yorkshire Mayor's Office - the IOPC has now clearly published their findings."

They added: "Hopefully the victims, survivors and the people of Rotherham will feel some relief at this outcome."

The watchdog found police failed to develop investigations from information they were receiving about child abuse.

Surveillance operations were not put in place, and information was not put on intelligence systems. Officers seemed not to be aware of the scale of child sexual abuse in the town, even though the outreach project Risky Business run by Ms Senior was giving them large numbers of referrals.

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In 2001/2002, Operation Forced was put in place to safeguard vulnerable children who were missing from home and being exposed to child exploitation.

The report said: "Evidence was found that names of some of the perpetrators were discussed at meetings attended by SYP officers. However, no action appeared to be taken by SYP. The perpetrators went on to continue to abuse young girls until they were convicted in 2016 - 14 years later."

In the years after Operation Forced, the three reports by analyst Ms Heal (dated 2002, 2003 and 2006) reinforced the intelligence picture for the police, giving them named perpetrators' personal details, vehicles, and businesses, together with links to the names of victims.

The report found these details were not added to the perpetrators' records on the operational intelligence system and there were no vehicle checks or requests to target them.

Again, some of these named perpetrators were convicted 10 years later in 2016-2018 for offences relating to child sexual exploitation.

The force is accused of being "heavily focused on drug activity, with seemingly little attention paid to the fact that the men involved were associating with young girls".

The report also suggested officers were focused on Home Office targets set on reducing crimes such as burglary and vehicle crime.

The report concluded: "Information was available in the early 2000s of the actions of a large number of men grooming young, vulnerable girls to facilitate child sexual exploitation. While some efforts were made to address this, it appears there was not a cohesive effort to deal with this effectively."

The watchdog said there were no criminal offences committed by officers, or behaviour that would lead to disciplinary proceedings. It added: "It was our view that this was a systemic organisational failure, as opposed to the failings of individuals."

South Yorkshire Police told Sky News: "Operation Amazon was one of 93 strands of Operation Linden, the outcome of which was published in 2022.

"At the time, SYP accepted the vast majority of the Operation Linden findings but disagreed with the decision to uphold the Operation Amazon complaint on the basis that the finding did not name any officers who had failed in their statutory duty. The force acknowledges and respects the IOPC's decision.

"South Yorkshire Police has accepted and apologised for the failure to safeguard vulnerable young people in Rotherham against CSE in the 1990s and 2000s. We remain committed to ensuring that the organisation and officers of today are the best they can be at preventing harm."

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