Behind the Lies
The Times which broke the story of the Rotherham sex abuse scandal names and shames the leaders of the Council who have all been forced to stand down after an independent report condemned their response to the catalogue of serious failings which were taking place right under their noses.
Rotherham: finally the truth behind the lies
Stepping down: Paul Lakin, Maggie Godfrey, John Doyle, Emma Hoddinott, Dominic Beck, Christine Beaumont and Mahroof Hussain
Stepping down: Paul Lakin, Maggie Godfrey, John Doyle, Emma Hoddinott, Dominic Beck, Christine Beaumont and Mahroof Hussain
By Andrew Norfolk and Gabriella Swerling - The Times
Leaders of a council which abandoned its own children resigned en masse yesterday after a devastating report revealed their abject response to the Rotherham abuse scandal.
The government responded by denouncing the authority as “wholly dysfunctional” and ordering the replacement of its ruling Labour cabinet by a team of commissioners.
The report of an inspection by Louise Casey, director-general of the government’s troubled families programme, accused Rotherham council of being in collective denial about its failings. Most councillors and many officials refused to accept the findings of an inquiry last year which revealed the unchecked abuse of 1,400 girls in the town in South Yorkshire over 16 years.
Fear of being branded racist was said to have had a crippling effect on the willingness of staff to confront a crime pattern in which white children were groomed and used for sex by organised groups of men. Most of the offenders were from the town’s Pakistani community. Crimes included “rape with a broken bottle and girls being ordered to kiss perpetrators’ feet at gunpoint”.
When articles in The Times exposed the street-grooming scandal in 2012, the council’s response was to dismiss the investigation as a “politically motivated” attack on a Labour authority by the “Murdoch press”, the report said. By declaring the articles to be untrue “with no apparent grounds for doing so”, it showed “extraordinary complacency”.
The report criticised senior Pakistani councillors for wielding “disproportionate influence” within the authority. Staff felt that they suppressed discussion of racial matters “for fear of upsetting community relations”.
One council officer described a culture in which Asian men were “very powerful and the white British are very mindful of racism . . . so there is no robust challenge”. Also revealed were examples of “wholly outdated or inappropriate views”, including those of a councillor who blamed girls aged 14 or 15 for dressing and wearing make-up that made them “look more adult”.
“They go into clubs, get served in bars. It’s very difficult for me. They [men from the Pakistani community] have been fooled definitely. The British Asians . . . if you have identified so many perpetrators, why have there been so little arrests?”
Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, said the Casey report confirmed “a complete failure of political and officer leadership” in Rotherham.
He announced a “most exceptional” package of emergency intervention measures including the appointment of five commissioners to take control of the council. Every seat on the authority will be put up for re-election in 2016.
Rotherham was, he said, a council paralysed by “complacency, institutionalised political correctness” and “blatant failures of political and officer leadership”. “The crimes committed against children are so appalling, the council’s remedy so utterly inadequate, that the government cannot in good conscience turn a blind eye.”
The national crime agency responded by revealing an extension to the scope of its inquiry into child-sex cases in the town. It said it would “examine a number of potentially criminal matters” identified during the inspection.
A spokesman for Ms Casey said these included sex abuse allegations against two members of the authority, one of whom is a serving councillor.
Paul Lakin, who became the leader of the council last year after his predecessor stood down, resigned with immediate effect. His six cabinet colleagues will stand down “as soon as transitional arrangements can be put in place”.
Jahangir Akhtar, the council’s former deputy leader, who lost his seat last year, is described in the Casey report as “a powerful figure in politics in Rotherham”. Some claimed that his influence even “extended to the police”.
Mr Akhtar was one of four Labour members suspended by the party last year following an independent inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay.
Stepping down: Paul Lakin, Maggie Godfrey, John Doyle, Emma Hoddinott, Dominic Beck, Christine Beaumont and Mahroof Hussain
Stepping down: Paul Lakin, Maggie Godfrey, John Doyle, Emma Hoddinott, Dominic Beck, Christine Beaumont and Mahroof Hussain
By Andrew Norfolk and Gabriella Swerling - The Times
Leaders of a council which abandoned its own children resigned en masse yesterday after a devastating report revealed their abject response to the Rotherham abuse scandal.
The government responded by denouncing the authority as “wholly dysfunctional” and ordering the replacement of its ruling Labour cabinet by a team of commissioners.
The report of an inspection by Louise Casey, director-general of the government’s troubled families programme, accused Rotherham council of being in collective denial about its failings. Most councillors and many officials refused to accept the findings of an inquiry last year which revealed the unchecked abuse of 1,400 girls in the town in South Yorkshire over 16 years.
Fear of being branded racist was said to have had a crippling effect on the willingness of staff to confront a crime pattern in which white children were groomed and used for sex by organised groups of men. Most of the offenders were from the town’s Pakistani community. Crimes included “rape with a broken bottle and girls being ordered to kiss perpetrators’ feet at gunpoint”.
When articles in The Times exposed the street-grooming scandal in 2012, the council’s response was to dismiss the investigation as a “politically motivated” attack on a Labour authority by the “Murdoch press”, the report said. By declaring the articles to be untrue “with no apparent grounds for doing so”, it showed “extraordinary complacency”.
The report criticised senior Pakistani councillors for wielding “disproportionate influence” within the authority. Staff felt that they suppressed discussion of racial matters “for fear of upsetting community relations”.
One council officer described a culture in which Asian men were “very powerful and the white British are very mindful of racism . . . so there is no robust challenge”. Also revealed were examples of “wholly outdated or inappropriate views”, including those of a councillor who blamed girls aged 14 or 15 for dressing and wearing make-up that made them “look more adult”.
“They go into clubs, get served in bars. It’s very difficult for me. They [men from the Pakistani community] have been fooled definitely. The British Asians . . . if you have identified so many perpetrators, why have there been so little arrests?”
Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, said the Casey report confirmed “a complete failure of political and officer leadership” in Rotherham.
He announced a “most exceptional” package of emergency intervention measures including the appointment of five commissioners to take control of the council. Every seat on the authority will be put up for re-election in 2016.
Rotherham was, he said, a council paralysed by “complacency, institutionalised political correctness” and “blatant failures of political and officer leadership”. “The crimes committed against children are so appalling, the council’s remedy so utterly inadequate, that the government cannot in good conscience turn a blind eye.”
The national crime agency responded by revealing an extension to the scope of its inquiry into child-sex cases in the town. It said it would “examine a number of potentially criminal matters” identified during the inspection.
A spokesman for Ms Casey said these included sex abuse allegations against two members of the authority, one of whom is a serving councillor.
Paul Lakin, who became the leader of the council last year after his predecessor stood down, resigned with immediate effect. His six cabinet colleagues will stand down “as soon as transitional arrangements can be put in place”.
Jahangir Akhtar, the council’s former deputy leader, who lost his seat last year, is described in the Casey report as “a powerful figure in politics in Rotherham”. Some claimed that his influence even “extended to the police”.
Mr Akhtar was one of four Labour members suspended by the party last year following an independent inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay.
