About 1,400 Rotherham children 'sexually exploited over 16-year period'
Report claims police and council agencies failed victims, some of whom were threatened with guns and gang-raped
Press Association
theguardian.com, Tuesday 26 August 2014 15.12 BST

The report said around 1,400 child victims had been systematically failed by police and agencies in Rotherham. Photograph: Alfonso Cacciola/Getty Images
About 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham over a 16-year period, according to a report that concluded "it is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse that child victims suffered".
The uncompromising report on events in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013 said in more than a third of these cases the youngsters were already known to child protection agencies.
Warning also of "blatant" collective failures by the council's leadership, the report by Professor Alexis Jay prompted the resignation of the council's Labour leader.
Roger Stone, the leader, said: "Having considered the report, I believe it is only right that I, as leader, take responsibility on behalf of the council for the historic failings that are described so clearly in the report and it is my intention to do so.
"For this reason, I have today agreed with my Labour group colleagues that I will be stepping down as leader with immediate effect."
"Despite Stone's resignation, chief executive Martin Kimber said no council officers will face disciplinary action."
The report said: "By far the majority of perpetrators were described as Asian by victims." But, she said, councillors seemed to think is was a one-off problem they hoped would go away and "several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist".
The rest of the story here:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/rotherham-children-sexually-abused-report