Funds raised for legal action over abuse failings

More than £100,000 has been raised as part of a campaign to take legal action against public officials who failed to stop grooming gangs and exploitation.

Together with survivors of child sexual abuse, Maggie Oliver, a former detective turned police whistleblower, is seeking to raise £125,000 to bring private prosecutions against individuals, including police officers and council officials.

In Rotherham - one of several towns and cities in England hit by grooming scandals - a report found more than 1,400 girls were raped and trafficked between 1997 and 2013.

South Yorkshire Police said the abuse would always be a "profound regret" while Rotherham Council said its failing were "wholly unacceptable".

In her review, published in 2014, Prof Alexis Jay said three reports had been presented to the council and police by 2006 outlining the problem but that they had either been supressed or ignored, with no action taken.

Prof Jay went on to lead a separate Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which found institutional failings and tens of thousands of child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) victims across England and Wales.

The aim of #TheyKnew campaign is to help fund the costs of investigating and bringing civil claims or private prosecutions against those individuals or organisations who failed to take action to stop the abuse.

Working with a team of barristers and legal advisors, it will look at grooming cases across the country.

Elizabeth - not her real name - was one of hundreds of children who was abused in Rotherham when she was 14.

She said senior officials in the police and council knew the scale of her abuse but "choose to stay silent".

"I was never treated like a victim, I was a child left to make adult choices and that should have never been allowed," she said.

"They absolutely knew and they choose to do nothing bout it. They choose to turn a blind eye."

She said the campaign would "make the impossible possible".

"I hope that we see prosecutions and I hope that we see them in the court rooms and finally a little bit of justice."

Ms Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police over the way Rochdale grooming cases were handled, said despite public apologies and some reforms, many individuals implicated in the failings had not been held legally accountable.

"Every victim that you speak to will say they want accountability," she said.

"We want the evidence to show that they have massively failed in their duty."

Det Supt Pete Quinn, South Yorkshire Police's strategic lead for child safeguarding, said: "There never has and there never will be a good reason for failing to properly investigate child sexual exploitation."

He said the abuse in the 1990s and 2000s had to led to the "beginning of an improved future".

"Reports of CSE in our region have long since been investigated by dedicated local multi-agency teams but our approach is now subject to structured governance by force leads and external bodies to ensure we are preparing, preventing, protecting, and pursuing in line with best practice and, crucially, without fear or favour," he added.

Nicola Curley, strategic director for children and young people's services at Rotherham Council, said the council and its partners "continue to do all that we can to support the victims of those horrific crimes."

She added: "Over the last ten years, we have been committed to listening to the voice and lived experience of victims and survivors in order to drive forward improvements."

"Any victims of child sexual abuse are urged to come forward and report the crimes committed against them. There is support available and you are not alone."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.