'Cover-up' claim as IOPC confirms 'systemic' South Yorkshire Police failures in grooming scandal
It's after the policing regulator published more information about a 2022 investigation into South Yorkshire Police
A police force's failure to act on intelligence that teenage girls were being sexually exploited in Rotherham has been described as a "cover-up" by a solicitor representing many of the survivors.
David Greenwood, a director of Switalskis Solicitors, was commenting after the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) confirmed that there was "systemic organisational failure" at the South Yorkshire force but said there was no indication that any senior officer "committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify disciplinary proceedings".
The IOPC published "further information" on Friday about its Operation Amazon investigation which, in 2022, upheld a 2017 complaint that "senior officers failed in their statutory responsibilities to protect children".
In Friday's new summary, the IOPC said: "The complaint was upheld on the basis that over a number of years it appeared that SYP (South Yorkshire Police) had actionable intelligence which senior officers could and should have addressed and taken responsibility for, but there was no co-ordinated response.
"It was our view that this was a systemic organisational failure, as opposed to the failings of individuals.
"We could not identify a named individual who had responsibility for these matters, and therefore this could not be viewed as a conduct issue.
"The decision maker however concluded this was a collective failure of the senior leadership team in their statutory responsibilities to protect children."
Mr Greenwood said: "The IOPC have now stated officially what many following this scandal have known for years - that South Yorkshire Police were provided with numerous reports of child sexual exploitation, yet failed to allocate resources to disrupting the perpetrators of this serious crime.
"From 2000 to 2012 gangs of men were able to abuse children unchallenged by police in Rotherham.
"The police were passed information from social services, education, (youth worker) Jayne Senior and parents yet they failed to respond to the dangerous threat."
The solicitor said: "The IOPC describes SYP's failure as 'systematic organisational failure'.
"In truth, the police intentionally ignored these crimes.
"I would describe this as a cover-up."
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said she will be taking up the findings with the new policing minister Sarah Jones and urged the new National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into allegations police officers took part in historical abuse in the town to also consider "police cover-up".
Writing on X, Ms Champion said: "I'm laid up with a virus, so maybe misreading things, but their basic conclusion seems to be that there weren't any findings of misconduct based on the fact the available data was so poorly collected at the time!
"That's very different from it not being true!"
She added: "So what happens now? Who do you complain to when you don't believe the complaints body has carried out its job?
"Well, I will be raising my concerns with the new Police Minister - just as I did with the last. The new @NCA_UK investigation must include police cover-up in its remit."
The IOPC published the additional information about Operation Amazon after some of the original whistleblowers in the Rotherham grooming scandal raised concerns that senior officers had not been investigated.
The watchdog said the new summary clarified the scope of the investigation and its decision making.
The original conclusions formed part of the Operation Linden report, published in June 2022, which covered 93 independent investigations of complaints and conduct matters in relation to SYP's handling of reports into non-recent child sexual abuse and exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
In a statement on Friday, SYP said: "Operation Amazon was one of 93 strands of Operation Linden, the outcome of which was published in 2022.
"At the time, SYP accepted the vast majority of the Operation Linden findings but disagreed with the decision to uphold the Operation Amazon complaint on the basis that the finding did not name any officers who had failed in their statutory duty.
"The force acknowledges and respects the IOPC's decision.
"South Yorkshire Police has accepted and apologised for the failure to safeguard vulnerable young people in Rotherham against CSE in the 1990s and 2000s.
"We remain committed to ensuring that the organisation and officers of today are the best they can be at preventing harm."