Rotherham abuse report ‘broke taboo’ on CSE

A damning report exposing the scale of child sexual exploitation in a South Yorkshire town has “broken the taboo in public debate” around the subject, its author has said.

Research by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 found that at least 1,400 children in Rotherham were abused over 16 years while authorities and police failed to act.

Marking the 10th anniversary of the findings, Prof Jay told BBC Look North her work was the first time many of the victims had been believed.

However, she added that society still has “a long way to go” in dealing properly with this crime and its consequences.

Prof. Jay’s report, published on 26 August 2014, found that between 1997 and 2013, girls as young as 11 were systematically raped, trafficked and intimidated, mainly by men of Pakistani origin.

It said that there “blatant” collective failures by the leadership of Rotherham Council and the failure of South Yorkshire Police to prioritise the problem.

The report also said senior managers were “downplaying” the scale of the problem.

In just over a third of cases, the victims were already known to social services because of child protection or neglect issues.

Speaking with BBC Watch North Ten years after the publication of her report, Prof Jay said the figure of 1,400 victims was a “conservative estimate”.

More women later came forward because of the publicity her report had generated, including women from Rotherham’s Pakistani community who had themselves been victims, she added.

“They came to me to talk about it. They were angry, which is not surprising because one of the stereotypes from the police and others was that child sexual exploitation did not happen to girls from their background,” she said.

“They said that this was not the case and that it was vastly underreported. Some of them were afraid to report it because of the potential consequences within their own community.”

Despite the scale of the abuse, only 36 people in Rotherham have been convicted of child luring and abuse within the period covered by the report.

When asked if she was disappointed by this, Prof Jay replied that it was “difficult to assess” exactly how many people were responsible.

She said: “These were groups made up mainly of men, but not exclusively of men, who organised the sexual exploitation of children over a number of years and of course this is under-reported.

“But it would be very difficult for someone in my position to estimate the number of perpetrators.”

However, Prof Jay said she believed the publication of her report in 2014 had at least “broken the taboo in public debate surrounding child sexual exploitation”.

“Finally, the blame was no longer on the victims,” she said.

But she added: “There is still a long way to go when it comes to this problem and society still has a lot to do to tackle this horrific crime.”

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Soundsstay up to date with the latest news episode of Look North or tell us a story that you think we should discuss here.