‘Zero Accountability’ – Police Cleared in Rotherham ‘Grooming’ Rape Gangs Scandal

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Kurt Zindulka

The investigation into the police’s handling of the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, in which an estimated 1,400 young girls were sexually abused, has failed to impose any criminal penalties or see any officers fired for misconduct.

In a decision widely condemned by victims’ rights activists, politicians, and lawyers, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has cleared former detective David Walker of any wrongdoing in the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal. The decision to not punish Walker means that all 47 officers who were investigated following the 2014 Jay Report in grooming gang failures have not faced punishment.

Walker, formerly of the of the South Yorkshire Police, had been accused of ignoring tips about potential child grooming, but the IOPC claims that he “acted appropriately with any information” provided to him, the BBC reports.

Jayne Senior MBE, a key witness in the inquiry who ran the Risky Business youth project between 1999 and 2011, said that the former detective had failed to investigate information about two young teenage girls being sexually abused by a taxi driver, with Senior claiming he had said: “This appears to be a matter for social services.”

Providing evidence to the inquest this week, Walker claimed to have been working on up to 180 cases at any given time. He went on to admit that he did not always record information regarding child sex abuse in police databases, but said that the information was sent to other officers or there was a reasonable expectation that other officers would investigate.

Former police detective turned rape gang whistleblower Maggie Oliver said that the decision to clear all the officers involved in the Rotherham scandal demonstrated the “corrupt” nature of investigations into police.

“Expectations are far too low, senior officers should be monitoring and supervising these decisions anyway, and standards are just not high enough when it comes to children being raped!” Oliver wrote on social media.

“But unfortunately I am not shocked. We see this all too often, and usually these cases aren’t brought to public attention. But they are not rare.

“It’s corrupt! They should ALL hang their heads in shame. It still makes my blood boil even after all these years!”

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, said that the decision not to prosecute any police officers will be a “bitter disappointment” for the grooming gang victims.

“Child sexual exploitation was treated as low priority. Investigations were under-resourced. Officers were untrained and, far too often, uncaring,” the Labour MP said.

“The result was that potentially thousands of children were abandoned to abuse of the most shocking kind.”

The inquiry, dubbed Operation Linden, was launched following the publishing of the Jay Report in 2014, which found that at least 1,400 girls were subjected to sexual abuse.

The report said that authorities should not overlook the reality of mostly white young girls being groomed by mostly Pakistani heritage for fear of being branded as racist.

A 2020 report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct which just cleared officers of wrong said that police did just that, observing that police officers in Rotherham overlooked children being sexually abused by “Asian” rape gangs due to politically correct fears within the police force.

One police chief inspector was quoted in the report as telling a father of a missing girl that Rotherham would “erupt” if they were informed that “Asian” grooming gangs were abusing young white girls.

Operation Linden investigated 47 police officers. While eight were said to have committed “gross misconduct”, so far none have been either fired or face criminal charges.

Attorney David Greenwood, who represented a number of Rotherham grooming gang victims, said of the inquiry: “It’s extremely disappointing that despite the best efforts of the brave women I represent, the police discipline system has delivered zero accountability.”

Greenwood went on to warn that the lack of punishment for police misconduct would result in a lack of trust for the police force from future victims.

The IOPC’s director of major investigations, Steve Noonan said: “We now need to consider the judgment and any potential impact on one ongoing investigation as part of Operation Linden before we will be able to publish our report, which will cover 91 investigations completed so far.

“Our priority remains the welfare of the survivors who took the difficult decision to come forward. They have shown a great deal of bravery both prior to and throughout our investigations and we must be respectful of the experiences they have gone through.”

The full report from Operation Linden is expected to be published later this month.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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