Officials must pay for Rotherham abuse
Public servants should pay for the failings that allowed around 1,400 children to be abused in Rotherham over 16 years.
The self-delusion involved in the Rotherham child-abuse case is astonishing. Professor Alexis Jay’s report stated that around 1,400 children were sexually abused in the town over 16 years, and that police, social workers and councillors let the victims of these horrific crimes down. Yet the website of Rotherham council introduced her findings this way: “Services to protect young people at risk from child sexual exploitation in Rotherham are stronger and better co-ordinated across agencies today than ever before, an independent review has found.” The assertion of improvement is a generous interpretation, to say the least. Prof Jay accepted that services are better, but added that they are over-stretched, long-term victim support is not good enough and, crucially, “prosecutions remain low in number”.