The Times- Rotherham police chief: we ignored sex abuse of children
Rotherham police chief: we ignored sex abuse of children Race fears stopped us acting, victim’s father told An inquiry found that between 1997 and 2013 more than 1,400 children in Rotherham were exposed to severe levels of sexual abuse and violence CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter Saturday January 18 2020, 12.00am, The Times Share Save A senior police officer admitted that his force ignored the sexual abuse of girls by Pakistani grooming gangs for decades because it was afraid of increasing “racial tensions”, a watchdog has ruled. After a five-year investigation, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) upheld a complaint that the Rotherham officer told a missing child’s distraught father that the town “would erupt” if it was known that Asian men were routinely having sex with under-age white girls. The chief inspector is said to have described the abuse as “P*** shagging” and to have said it had been “going on” for 30 years: “Wi