Rotherham

[Boiler 46,300]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

At least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, a report has found.

Children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated, it said.

The report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council, revealed there had been three previous inquiries.

Council leader Roger Stone said he would step down with immediate effect.

Mr Stone, who has been the leader since 2003, said: "I believe it is only right that as leader I take responsibility for the historic failings described so clearly."

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist”

Professor Alexis Jay

The inquiry team noted fears among council staff of being labelled "racist" if they focused on victims' descriptions of the majority of abusers as "Asian" men.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh this will be a good thread, I can already tell

[Merrytooth 5,748]

What "Asian" men?

[Boiler 46,300]

BBC/Guardian etc for Pakistanis.

Most of the victims are white.

[Merrytooth 5,748]

I see.. Should have stopped using the term 'Asian" Men.

These animals are an insult to all Asian people.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I see.. Should have stopped using the term 'Asian" Men.

These animals are an insult to all Asian people.

What a weird thing to say. If you are born Pakistani and a guy who happens to shares your ethnic origin commits a crime, why would it be an insult to your ethnicity?

Serious, who thinks like this?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

What a weird thing to say. If you are born Pakistani and a guy who happens to shares your ethnic origin commits a crime, why would it be an insult to your ethnicity?

Serious, who thinks like this?

If it is not big deal or an insult, then why the media can't just name men as Pakistani origin?

Why use Asian men???

[Boiler 46,300]

If it is not big deal or an insult, then why the media can't just name men as Pakistani origin?

Why use Asian men???

Just saying Rotherham would be enough for those familiar with the UK.

It is an old mill town, before the Clothing industry collapsed a lot of immigrants came from certain areas of mainly Pakistan and I think Bangladseh.

So nobody would be thinking say Japanese, Asian tends to mean from the sub continent in normal use.

The media is covered with this, take your pick, got to the point it could not be ignored. Not that I think anything will change.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

What a weird thing to say. If you are born Pakistani and a guy who happens to shares your ethnic origin commits a crime, why would it be an insult to your ethnicity?

Serious, who thinks like this?

A lot of people think like this in the world. The west's focus on the individual is not the only way to think.

I think this reaction is kind of strange in light of the UK jihadi situation. Not everyone thinks like you.

[lostinblue 1,989]

n 2008 an 11-year-old girl came to the attention of the police after she disclosed that she and another child had been sexually abused by a group of adult males.

Despite the fact she was identified as being one of a group of girls who was associating with a known sex abuser, her file was closed and she was deemed as being not at risk from sexual exploitation.

Less than a month later, she was found in a derelict house with another child, and a number of adult males.

She was arrested for being drunk and disorderly (her conviction was later set aside) and none of the males were arrested.

On one of the most shocking cases highlighted in the report, Professor Jay described how in 2001 a 15-year-old girl was doused in petrol by her abuser who threatened to set her alight.

She was later stalked by him, doused in petrol and warned that she would be burned alive if she told the police anything. She made several attempts on her own life and eventually ended up homeless.

No action was taken against her abuser.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11057622/Rotherham-child-sexual-exploitation-Victims-raped-beaten-and-doused-in-petrol-if-they-threatened-to-tell.html

Edited August 27, 2014 by lostinblue

[Robby999 1,024]

In Rotherham the "majority" of known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage, the report says, which led to police and council workers "tiptoeing" around the problem.

In the council and the police there was a perception among staff that they should "downplay the ethnic dimensions of child sexual exploitation".

Frontline staff became confused as to what they were supposed to say and do and what would be interpreted as "racist".

Prof Jay adds: "From a political perspective, the approach of avoiding public discussion of the issues was ill judged."

Other than two meetings in 2011, there was no direct engagement with the Pakistani community about the issue of child sexual exploitation, despite "strong concern" from community leaders that there should be.

One of the local Pakistani women's groups described how Pakistani-heritage girls were targeted by taxi drivers and on occasion by older men lying in wait outside school gates at dinner times and after school.

They also cited cases in Rotherham where Pakistani landlords had befriended Pakistani women and girls on their own for purposes of sex, then passed on their name to other men who had then contacted them for sex.

The women and girls feared reporting such incidents to the Police because it would affect their future marriage prospects.

Council criticism

The report stated that there had been a prevalent denial of the existence of child sexual exploitation in the Borough in the early years but added that by 2005, it was hard to believe that any senior officers or members from the Leader and the Chief Executive downwards, were not aware of the issue.

The report went on that most council members showed little obvious leadership or interest in child sexual exploitation.

The report said: "The possible reasons for this are not clear but may include denial that this could occur in Rotherham, concern that the ethnic element could damage community cohesion, worry about reputational risk to the Borough if the issue was brought fully into the public domain, and the belief that if that occurred, it might compromise police operations."

It concluded: "The prevailing culture at the most senior level of the Council, until 2009, as described by several people, was bullying and 'macho', and not an appropriate climate in which to discuss the rape and sexual exploitation of young people."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11057622/Rotherham-child-sexual-exploitation-Victims-raped-beaten-and-doused-in-petrol-if-they-threatened-to-tell.html