Racist, sexist and in denial...

By Martin Robinson And Steph Cockroft
Daily Mail
February 4, 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2939129/Two-local-councillors-corrupt-police-officer-accused-having-sex-victims-Rotherham-abuse-scandal.html

Damning report: Louise Casey, pictured, was asked to inspect Rotherham Council after the child abuse scandal emerged last year and said it is 'not fit for purpose'

Intervention: Rotherham Borough Council, pictured, faces new elections and new management after the latest damning report over the town's child abuse scandal

Clear-out: Former council leader Roger Stone

chief executive Martin Kimber left after the scandal emerged fully last year

Racist, sexist and in denial: Now police will investigate Rotherham Council over child sex abuse at hands of Asian gangs as entire cabinet resigns

A criminal investigation has been launched today after a damning new report found Rotherham Council is 'not fit for purpose' and still 'in denial' about the 1,400 young girls who were abused in the town over 16 years.

Investigators concluded girls as young as 11 were left to be abused by mainly Asian men between 1997 and 2013 because the council's staff and politicians feared being labelled racist.

The council also had a 'deep-rooted' culture of sexism and bullying where it would 'shoot the messenger' and sought to force whistleblowers into silence or pay them off, it was said.

Inspectors also found the council 'goes to some lengths to cover up information' and said that children in the town were still at risk of abuse.

The report said South Yorkshire Police also failed in its role to protect victims, turning a blind eye to their plight and in many cases holding them responsible.

Police were said to be aware that a victim was 'raped with a broken bottle' and some girls were 'ordered to kiss perpetrators' feet at gun point' but never took any action.

In one case an officer told a victim: 'Don't worry- you aren't the first girl to be raped by XX and you won't be the last'.

The council cabinet was forced to resign today after the shocking report laid bare their failings.

Now its disgraced former Labour leadership face the threat of serious criminal charges over claims in the report that evidence of abuse was deliberately obscured over a number of years.

Possible charges are understood to include misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice, both of which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The National Crime Agency has said it will examine a number of potentially criminal matters identified in the report.

Today Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced new elections in 2016 to replace the council's 'wholly dysfunctional' political leadership and so the town can have a 'fresh start'.

The devastating 160-page report by Louise Casey today revealed that:

    Reports of abuse were ignored by the council because it was 'in denial' about the crimes
    Staff and politicians failed to tackle abuse by Asian gangs 'for fear of being seen as racist'
    Senior councillors bullied and suppressed staff who highlighted that the abusers were ‘predominantly’ Pakistani
    Whistleblowers were silenced with pay-offs or 'bullied out of the organisation' if they refused to stay silent
    Officers ignored warnings from a youth project in town about habitual abuse of children in the town and then shut it down
    There was a 'a pervading culture of sexism, bullying and silencing debate' at the council
    The council failed children and is still failing them and has 'taken more care of its reputation than it has its of its most needy'
    Victims were denied support and justice as social services and police blamed each other for lack of action
    Even after the grooming scandal was exposed, a serving councillor told the new inquiry he believed the Asian men accused of grooming girls for sex had in reality been ‘fooled’ by girls aged 14 and 15 whose clothing and make-up made them ‘look more adult’
    One whistleblower branded the council a ‘machine’ which ‘simply exists to cover up and destroy’

Louise Casey, who is director-general for troubled families at the government's Communities Department, was asked to investigate the council by Mr Pickles.

The minister told MPs this afternoon he will impose early elections in 2016 on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and proposes to send in commissioners to take over the responsibilities of the council's cabinet in the wake of her report

In the hard-hitting report, she highlighted how serving councillors were still querying the mathematics behind the figure of abuse victims, with officials complaining the authority shouldn’t ‘roll over and accept the report’.

Branding its culture one of ‘bullying, sexism, suppression and misplaced political correctness’, she said the authority – which in the past eight years has never had fewer than 50 Labour members – had a ‘deep-rooted’ culture of ‘suppressing bad news’ and ‘goes to some length to cover up information and to silence whistleblowers’.

Whistleblowers who tried to raise concerns lost their jobs, and the report also said police officers often did not seem to believe the girls, their families or those who reported problems, and did not treat them as victims.

One former police officer said: ‘They were running scared of the race issue… there is no doubt that in Rotherham, this has been a problem with Pakistani men for years and years. People were scared of being called racist.’

But it was Mrs Casey’s finding that Rotherham Council remained ‘in denial’ over the scandal – and the description of the 1,400 figure as a ‘conservative’ estimate – which spread political shockwaves yesterday and prompted a dramatic Commons statement in which Mr Pickles said ministers were effectively taking over the troubled authority.

Mr Pickles will send in five commissioners to ‘provide new leadership’, taking over the role of the ‘current wholly dysfunctional cabinet’. The commissioners will appoint the council’s chief executive and other senior officials.

Mr Pickles said: ‘It is because the council is so seriously failing the people of Rotherham, and particularly some of the most vulnerable in that borough, that I am proposing to take this truly exceptional step. My aim will be to return these responsibilities to local democratic control as rapidly as possible.’

A source close to the Communities Secretary said: ‘In terms of scope and scale, this is unprecedented.’ It is expected Mr Pickles will call local elections in the town early next year.

Rotherham Council has 14 days to respond, after which the commissioners will be appointed.

During the Commons debate, Ukip MP Mark Reckless suggested that Labour’s single-party rule in Rotherham had contributed to the abuse – and said it was only since last year’s election of ten Ukip councillors that there had been any opposition at all.

‘Even if single-party Labour control may not have caused what happened, it did allow it,’ he said.

It came as it emerged a corrupt police officer and two local politicians - including one serving councillor - have today been accused of having sex with abuse victims.

The abuse scandal in Rotherham is considered the worst in Britain's history with experts estimating that 1,400 girls fell into the clutches of paedophiles.

Many of the victims, often from children's homes or troubled backgrounds, were plied with alcohol and drugs before being used for sex or pimped to others.

'Almost all' of the perpetrators are believed to be part of predatory Pakistani gangs, with victims claiming they were at times 'raped once a day' for many years, an inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay found last year.

The controversy that followed the publication of the Jay Report led to Rotherham council leader Roger Stone leaving his post.

The most high profile resignation was that of South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright, who was the Rotherham councillor overseeing children's services between 2005 and 2010.

Both men refused to be interviewed by Louise Casey.  

Today, in her inspection report, Ms Casey said: 'Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC) is not fit for purpose.

'The council's culture is unhealthy: bullying, sexism, suppression and misplaced "political correctness" have cemented its failures. The council is currently incapable of tackling its weaknesses, without a sustained intervention.'  

Ms Casey fully endorsed the findings of Professor Alexis Jay's report which caused huge controversy when it was published in August last year.

She said the council 'demonstrates a resolute denial of what has happened in the borough'.

Ms Casey said her inspection team found 'a council in denial about serious and on-going safeguarding failures' and 'an archaic culture of sexism, bullying and discomfort around race'.

She said it had failed to address past weaknesses in children's care and had 'ineffective leadership and management, including political leadership'.

The report highlighted 'a culture of covering up uncomfortable truths, silencing whistleblowers and paying off staff rather than dealing with difficult issues.'

It said: 'RMBC goes to some length to cover up information and to silence whistleblowers.'

Ms Casey said in her report: 'Terrible things happened in Rotherham and on a significant scale.

'Children were sexually exploited by men who came largely from the Pakistani heritage community.

'Not enough was done to acknowledge this, to stop it happening, to protect children, to support victims and to apprehend perpetrators.'

She said: 'Upon arriving in Rotherham, these I thought were the uncontested facts. My job was to conduct an inspection and decide whether the council was now fit for purpose. However this was not the situation I encountered when I reached Rotherham.

'Instead, I found a council in denial. They denied that there had been a problem, or if there had been, that it was as big as was said. If there was a problem they certainly were not told - it was someone else's job. They were no worse than anyone else. They had won awards. The media were out to get them.'

After the report was published, campaign groups said it was a 'welcome stop' towards recognising the council's current and historic failures.  

Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, said: 'Louise Casey's report into the abject failure of Rotherham council to protect their most vulnerable children only serves to highlight why we need immediate action - she has concluded the council is not fit for purpose.

'This shocking report is a welcome step towards recognising the myriad of past and present failures and ensuring this sort of abuse can never happen again.

'While bringing those responsible for such a dereliction of duty to justice, we cannot forget the reality that exploitation is ongoing in other areas of the country.'

She also called for an inquiry, saying: 'In light of this, 4Children today reaffirms its previous call for a time limited inquiry, led by the Prime Minister, into child sexual exploitation across the UK, recognising the scale and importance of the issue, so that ongoing child sexual exploitation can be addressed without delay.

'Justice Lowell Goddard's inquiry is vital, but must not detract from the urgency of preventing further abuse of vulnerable children.'

Karen Froggatt, locality director for the charity Victim Support, added: 'Six months ago, when the horrific extent of the child abuse in Rotherham was revealed, we said "never again".

'As a charity that is supporting the survivors of that abuse, I am shocked this new report says children in Rotherham are still at risk because the council is not "fit for purpose".

'We are independent of the police, the council and the other agencies found to be wanting by these inquiries.

'We will continue to work with survivors of child exploitation and abuse, and we are here to listen to anyone concerned about a child or young person they suspect is being groomed.'

In the report, Ms Casey also devoted a whole section to the council's 'denial' of the problem - even highlighting its scepticism about the findings of the Jay Report itself.

She said: 'When inspectors commenced work in Rotherham, we were struck by the overwhelming denial of what Professor Jay set out in her report. This attitude was so prevalent that we had to go back through many of the aspects of her work in order to satisfy ourselves that the council had no grounds upon which further action could be delayed.'

And she said: 'When asked, 70 per cent of the current Rotherham councillors we spoke to (including those in the Cabinet) disputed Professor Jay's findings.'

Ms Casey also criticised many of those interviewed for doubting the 1,400 figure highlighted in the Jay Report as at least the number of children involved.

She said: 'We have concluded that the 1,400 figure is a conservative one and that RMBC and South Yorkshire Police (where some also dispute the figures) would do better to concentrate on taking effective action rather than seeking to continue a debate about the numbers.'

Ms Casey said the council 'could not deal sensibly' with the issue of race.

'Indeed, some councillors held racist or wholly outdated or inappropriate views,' she added.

'Many of these views were known about but not challenged.'

Ms Casey added: 'Frontline staff were clearly anxious about being branded racist.

'Whether there was an element of self-censorship or otherwise, the impact of this was clear. The council was not dealing with a serious problem right before its eyes.