BREITBART - The investigation into the police’s handling of the Rotherham grooming gang scandal, in which an estimated 1,400 young girls were sexually abused, has failed to impose any criminal penalties or see any officers fired for misconduct.
In a decision widely condemned by victims’ rights activists, politicians, and lawyers, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has cleared former detective David Walker of any wrongdoing in the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal. The decision to not punish Walker means that all 47 officers who were investigated following the 2014 Jay Report in grooming gang failures have not faced punishment.
Walker, formerly of the of the South Yorkshire Police, had been accused of ignoring tips about potential child grooming, but the IOPC claims that he “acted appropriately with any information” provided to him, the BBC reports.
Jayne Senior MBE, a key witness in the inquiry who ran the Risky Business youth project between 1999 and 2011, said that the former detective had failed to investigate information about two young teenage girls being sexually abused by a taxi driver, with Senior claiming he had said: “This appears to be a matter for social services.”
Providing evidence to the inquest this week, Walker claimed to have been working on up to 180 cases at any given time. He went on to admit that he did not always record information regarding child sex abuse in police databases, but said that the information was sent to other officers or there was a reasonable expectation that other officers would investigate.
Former police detective turned rape gang whistleblower Maggie Oliver said that the decision to clear all the officers involved in the Rotherham scandal demonstrated the “corrupt” nature of investigations into police.
“Expectations are far too low, senior officers should be monitoring and supervising these decisions anyway, and standards are just not high enough when it comes to children being raped!” Oliver wrote on social media.
“But unfortunately I am not shocked. We see this all too often, and usually these cases aren’t brought to public attention. But they are not rare.
“It’s corrupt! They should ALL hang their heads in shame. It still makes my blood boil even after all these years!”