Sex abuse team needs 100 police to proceed

AT LEAST 100 more officers are needed to investigate the Rotherham child abuse scandal, the head of the operation has said, as he revealed that only about 17 per cent of victims have been interviewed so far.

Paul Williamson, the senior officer on Operation Stovewood, said the scale of the task meant that his team was struggling to cope with demand and vulnerable victims were being let down.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which has been investigating historic abuse in the South Yorkshire town for the past three years, has now applied for another 100 specially trained detectives to continue the inquiry.

More than 1,500 potential victims and 110 suspects have so far been identified.

Mr Williamson told The Guardian that the investigation was at a crucial stage as officers were preparing to go after grooming gangs rather than individuals. He said: “It’s a really specialist area, engaging and interviewing vulnerable victims.”

There are 144 officers on the operation, but the NCA has applied to increase that to 200-250. The inquiry, which is thought to have cost £10million, has led to four men being jailed for a total of more than 30 years.