Betrayed by the PC cowards: Damning report reveals 1,400 girls were abused by sex gangs because social workers and police feared racism claims - so did nothing

• Report found 1,400 children abused between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham
  

• The figure is likely to be a conservative estimate of the true scale
  

• Victims terrorised with guns and doused in petrol and threatened with fire
  

• More than a third of the cases were already know to agencies
  

• Author of the report condemned 'blatant' failings by council's leadership
  

• Action blocked by political correctness as staff 'feared appearing racist'
  

• Majority of victims described the perpetrators as 'Asian' men
  

• Leader of Rotherham Council has stepped down with immediate effect
  

• No council employees will receive disciplinary action, leaders state
  

At least 1,400 girls were left to be abused by Asian men because the authorities were too scared to admit there was a race issue, a report said yesterday.
Over a 16-year period, children as young as 11 were sexually exploited by gangs of men – most of them of Pakistani origin.
But police and council officials suppressed evidence of the crimes because they feared being labelled racist.

Last night Rotherham council leader Roger Stone resigned, apologising to the victims let down by the authority.
The council, which commissioned Professor Jay’s report, said it accepted the findings, including that senior managers in child protection, elected councillors and senior police officers were responsible for failures ‘almost without exception’.
Some of the officials are thought to still be working for the council. Others have moved to jobs elsewhere.
There were calls for a full criminal inquiry into the cover-up by police, council officials and social workers.


Concerns about damage to community cohesion were put above the need to protect the vulnerable. Police treated the victims with contempt, turning a blind eye to their plight and in many cases holding them responsible.
Despite the appalling failures in the case, no one in authority has been sacked or even disciplined.
MPs and charities said the scale of the abuse was almost ‘incomprehensible’ and called for a criminal investigation into those who helped cover it up.
And at least six victims have now launched a class action against Rotherham council and could be in line for millions of pounds in compensation.

The devastating report by Professor Alexis Jay revealed that:

• Staff were given ‘clear directions’ from managers to downplay the ‘ethnic dimension’ of the abuse despite almost all the perpetrators being of Pakistani heritage;
  

• Three separate reports warning of the scale of the abuse were ‘suppressed or ignored’ by the council because it was ‘in denial’ about the crimes;
  

• Serious discussions about sexual abuse were impossible because of the ‘macho’ and ‘sexist’ culture at the Labour-controlled council;
  

• Police treated victims and their families as if they were to blame for the abuse, and took no action against the paedophiles
  

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• The victims were left so traumatised that one tried to throw herself in front of moving cars and another said she ‘might as well be dead
  

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