Scandal-hit Rotherham has been rocked by new accusations as a councillor has claimed Roma migrants are illegally marrying underage girls.
Former deputy leader Emma Hoddinott alleged that the town’s large Roma community will include girls married before they are sixteen, the Express reports.
The council is being run by government appointed commissioners following the report by Alexis Jay into Child Sexual Exploitation in the borough, was accused along with the police of covering up the abuse.
Cllr Hoddinott admitted underage marriage is an “issue” in Rotherham, adding that the council needed to “work with police to tackle that and we have to work with the commissioners to make sure there are actions in place to tackle these issues.
“We need to get it right – we can’t write off those girls because they are in that community,” she said.
But the Labour councillor was unable to say how many children in the town might be married to men already although it is believed there are more than 200,000 Roma immigrants in Britain who came to settle here when all restrictions on free movement were lifted. Back in Romania, the community were discriminated against and many moved into other EU countries at the first opportunity when the country became part of political union.
But the movement of whole communities has brought the problem of multiculturalism where traditional Roma social rules are followed rather than the rule of English law.
Under the Gypsy code, called Pachiv, girls are encouraged to wed soon after puberty meaning the marriage of girls under 16 is common among the communities.
Pachiv dictates that the head of the usually large family group is always obeyed and large dowries are involved as well as a matchmaker who is used to seek out a suitable girl for marriage.
The code dictates that the head of the usually large family group is always obeyed and in some cases large sums of money can be involved when matchmakers seek out a suitable young girl for marriage.
UKIP MEP and candidate for Rotherham Jane Collins told Breitbart London the situation was another example of how multiculturalism did not work and caused segregated communities.
“I am extremely concerned at the reports that underage girls are marrying in Rotherham’s Roma community,” she said.
“More needs to be done by the police, social services and politicians to stamp out these imported illegal practices.”
“Although underage marriage maybe normal practise in the Roma community homelands, in the UK, marriage under 16 is illegal and sex with anyone under the age of consent is statutory rape. We must have and uphold one law for all.”
Two reports into child sex abuse in Rotherham revealed that more than 1400 girls were groomed, trafficked and abused by gangs of predominantly Pakistani men over a period of 16 years.
The report revealed that councillors were told about the seriousness of the situation, but instead of taking action to protect girls in the town the council decided to close down a service protecting the girls and keeping a database of abusers, which was described as the only lifeline for the victims in the town.
Former Labour leader Roger Stone and other councillors quit and the ruling cabinet was fired and replaced by government appointed commissioners.
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