Outrage at silence of abuse scandal bosses
Council leaders and staff refuse to help inquiry
FORMER SENIOR managers and councillors at Rotherham Council in charge when the town’s child abuse scandal unfolded have been criticised for their “miserable silence” after refusing or ignoring requests to participate in £440,000 inquiries into how the authority failed 1,400 victims.
Six independent inquiries ordered in the wake of the damning Jay report in 2014 which first uncovered the extent of the abuse in the town were branded a “completely wasted opportunity” by Rotherham MP Sarah Champion after they concluded no individual senior managers and social workers could be brought to account.
Angry victims told a heated council meeting at Rotherham Town Hall they still did not have answers over the scandal. Among those who declined to participate in interviews were former council leaders Roger Stone and Paul Lakin, former director of children’s services Joyce Thacker and former South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner Shaun Wright, who had been a councillor in charge of children’s services between 2005 and 2010.
Other senior figures named in one report as refusing to participate were Christine BrodhurstBrown, a former youth services manager, Tom Cray, a past director of neighbourhoods and adult services, Simon Perry, ex-director of targeted services and Howard Woolfenden, the former director of safeguarding.
The report did say Mr Woolfenden, Mr Perry and Mrs Thacker had subsequently submitted written responses “in respect of a number of points”.
A total of 27 people investigators wished to interview either failed to respond or declined requests. Six further senior figures, including former chief executives Mike Cuff, Ged Fitzgerald and Martin Kimber, also declined to be interviewed but agreed to respond to written questions.
Current council leader Chris Read said it was difficult to accept findings that no one could be held to account and strongly criticised those who refused to co-operate. “I hope those who refused to take part, including those former Labour councillors, understand the consequences of their choice. Our survivors deserve far better than their miserable silence,” he said.
The report examining the conduct of senior employees over the years covered by the scandal said: “It is unfortunate that the individuals listed were not prepared to be interviewed. As many of them were in post at the council across the latter years of the relevant period, it does mean that the evidence we have been able to report in respect of that period is somewhat limited.
“Former leader Roger Stone and lead member for children’s services, Shaun Wright declined to participate, and Paul Lakin, also a lead member for children’s services, cancelled our interview and did not re-schedule. That is disappointing as these former members could have made a useful contribution to the investigation.”
ABUSE VICTIMS have said they will continue to fight for professionals to be held to account over the Rotherham child abuse scandal after being left with unanswered questions by a series of council reports that failed to bring disciplinary action against any former worker.
It came after dozens of former council employees and councillors refused to participate in investigations that attempted to further expose what had happened in the authority between 1997 and 2013, when an estimated 1,400 children were the victims of sexual exploitation – largely at the hands of men with a Pakistani-heritage background.
Around £440,000 of public money was spent commissioning the independent inquiries in the wake of the damning reports into the council’s response to the issue by Professor Alexis Jay and Dame Louise Casey.
One abuse victim told a heated council meeting at Rotherham Town Hall: “We have not got answers,
That some professionals haven’t spoken speaks volumes. Sammy Woodhouse, abuse survivor.
we deserve answers, that is what we want.
“All we have got is that we have spent lots of public money for this report for people to tell us no answers. We are not going to stop, we deserve it.”
Speaking after the meeting, Sammy Woodhouse, an abuse victim who waived her anonymity earlier this year, said little has been uncovered that was not already know.
“I want people held accountable and it just feels like it’s never going to happen,” she said.
“I think it’s been a waste of time and a waste of money.
“We’ve got the same answers over and over again like we did in all the other reports.
“I feel they’ve just looked at the Jay Report and rewritten it all again.”
She said she was particularly angry that some former senior council leaders had failed to contribute to the investigations. “I think that some professionals haven’t spoke speaks volumes. They’re getting on with their lives now and we’re picking up the pieces,” she said.
“We want people to be held accountable. There just seem so many obstacles and it’s never going to happen.”
Jayne Senior, a former youth worker who helped expose the scandal and is now a Labour councillor, said it was “disgraceful” some former council professionals had failed to co-operate.
“For some of the victims and survivors and families in Rotherham, they’ve waited 15 or 20 years to get some answers to what went wrong and why they were failed. More importantly – who failed them and who was responsible for that? One of the more shocking things for me today is that nobody’s going to be held accountable.
“Those reports need to be looked at from a criminal angle as well now. We know how badly, from every report, that people were failed. Somebody has got to take responsibilty for that.”
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: “I had hoped that today’s publication of the reports would draw a line under the catalogue of errors that led to our children being let down so badly by those supposed to protect them. However, despite these huge failures, leading to at least 1,400 victims being let down, it appears that no individual at RMBC has yet been held to account for their role.
“How is Rotherham meant to have confidence that this will never happen again unless we know exactly what went wrong?”