2 months ago
15
The National Crime Agency (NCA) will take over an investigation into allegations that South Yorkshire Police officers sexually abused children in Rotherham.
The BBC reported in July on how five women who were exploited by grooming gangs as children have said they were also abused by police officers in the town in the 1990s to early 2000s.
South Yorkshire Police (SYP) initially said it would look at the claims, but subsequently faced calls to be removed from the investigation in the interests of transparency.
The NCA said it would ensure "victims remain at the heart of this investigation".
Three former police officers have so far been arrested in connection with the allegations.
Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said the force had requested that the NCA take over the investigation.
It will still be overseen by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
ACC Barnett said: "Concerns around the mode of investigation have put the force, and not the victim survivors, at the centre of the narrative, and this fails to align with a truly victim-centred investigation.
"I am also mindful there is a chance that some victim survivors may be suffering in silence and unwilling to make a report as a result of SYP's involvement."
Prof Alexis Jay, who led the landmark 2014 report which exposed the scale of offending by grooming gangs in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, had told the BBC she was "shocked" the force was investigating its own former officers.
The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp had also called for a separate body to lead the probe, saying there could be no "conflicts of interest".
Switalskis, the solicitors representing survivors, welcomed the development as a "step in the right direction".
Among the witness accounts reported by the BBC was the testimony of one woman who said she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving SYP officer in a marked police car.
He would threaten to hand her back to the gang if she did not comply, she said.
