South Yorkshire Police should not be allowed to investigate allegations its own officers sexually abused children in Rotherham, the shadow home secretary has said
Conservatives Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns said the force should be prevented from any involvement in the investigation, to allow it to be conducted “impartially and independently”.
The BBC reported on Tuesday how five women who were exploited by grooming gangs as children have said they were also abused by police officers in the town at the time.
The Home Office and South Yorkshire Police (SYP) have been contacted for comment.
Among the witness accounts reported by the BBC was the testimony of one woman who said she was was raped from the age of 12 by a serving SYP officer in a marked police car.
She claimed the officer would threaten to hand her back to the gang who had been grooming her if she did not comply.
SYP said it had a “dedicated team” of detectives looking at the allegations, with the investigation being overseen by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC).
But in a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Philp and Kearns backed Prof Alexis Jay’s view that the force should have no involvement in the investigation themselves.
Prof Jay, who led the landmark inquiry which exposed the Rotherham grooming scandal in 2014, said the investigation should be taken over by another body.
Philp and Kearns said: “It is incredibly concerning that the rape and abuse reportedly carried out by South Yorkshire police officers is being investigated by South Yorkshire Police themselves.
“Whilst we recognise the IOPC is overseeing the investigation, this simply isn’t good enough.”
They added: “There can be no conflicts of interests which may impede the investigation or deny justice.
“These children have already been failed more than once – stand with them now.”
Speaking on Women’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, the former Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue said it appeared the South Yorkshire force was “marking their own homework in the most catastrophic way”.
The Hon Zoë Billingham CBE, who spent 12 years inspecting police forces, said: “Trust and confidence are at the heart of this and victims are not trusting this will be done well, and we have to listen to the victim’s voices in this.
“It would be perfectly reasonable for another police to be asked to come in and investigate independently under the auspices of the IOPC and I think that should happen immediately.”
Responding to the BBC’s initial report, SYP assistant chief constable Hayley Barnett said: “We know how hard it must be for a victim or survivor, who has been so badly let down in the past, to put their faith into the South Yorkshire Police of today.”
But she added that victims and survivors were “at the heart” of the investigation, with all actions being taken in their best interests.
