Rotherham Victim Says Abusers ‘Untouchable’

A Sky News investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham learns that hundreds of new cases continue to emerge. A survivor of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham claims she still sees her abusers “driving young girls in their car”, as a Sky News investigation reveals hundreds of new cases continue to emerge.

In August 2014, the Alexis Jay report identified 1,400 cases of child sexual exploitation in the Yorkshire town. But Sky News has learned that hundreds more cases were known to authorities prior to its publication and that hundreds more are being reported.

Victims continue to feel let down by authorities. One survivor “Gemma” told Sky News: “It’s still going on if not worse, because now they’re having to hide it more. I’m still seeing my abusers driving young girls in their car. They’re untouchable.”

Jayne Senior, who ran an outreach programme for victims in Rotherham called Risky Business, has revealed that she reported nearly 1,700 cases of grooming or sexual exploitation to the council’s children’s services between 1999 and 2011. This was a shorter time period than that examined by the report.

“I was accused of saying too much, of sharing too much information, reporting too much intelligence,” she told Sky News in her first interview. “Risky Business didn’t make all this up. It was accused of making it all up and Alexis Jay exonerated all of that.” The report found Risky Business was seen by the borough’s social care services “as something of a nuisance”.

Risky Business was shut down in 2011 and victims have expressed frustration that a recent application to set up a new support group has been turned down by the council despite recommendations in the Jay report. “It shouldn’t have been shut down,” one victim told Sky News. “Because that was an agency that was trying to tackle the situation. But knowing now that it was all a cover-up then I think it was closed down because they were trying to tackle the problem.”