The police watchdog is examining almost 200 Rotherham officers after corrupt individuals, one related to the convicted groomers, allegedly conspired to protect the Muslim child sex gang.
One officer and local politician, who is a family relative of the brothers convicted yesterday, is alleged to have brokered a deal whereby one brother was given assurance that he “wouldn’t get done” if he returned one his young victims to a police station.
Another is accused of having sex with an under-age girls, passing drugs to the grooming gang and tipping them off when colleagues were searching for missing children, a court was told.
During the trial, one woman who spent three days describing how she was repeatedly abused and assaulted from the age of 11, told the jury how she told a detective called Kenneth Dawes about what happened but no action was taken.
“He used to have sex with girls and he used to take drugs from people and pass them on to Ash”, the girl said.
Jahangir Akhtar, the former deputy leader of Rotherham council and deputy chairman of South Yorkshire police, is one of several alleged to have taken part in the handover. He is also a relative of Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain.
The three brothers were found guilty yesterday of multiple sexual offences against underage girls over a twenty years period in Rotherham, a town they were said to “own” thanks to their criminal and police connections.
As their trial ended yesterday, it was revealed that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had begun 55 investigations into alleged police misconduct linked to Rotherham child sex crimes. It has received complaints against 92 named officers, the Yorkshire Post reports.
Several other horric accounts of abuse were heard during the trail, with some of the women citing a lack of trust in the police as why they went to the media to tell their stories, before the the authorities.
“The only reason the police started this investigation was because The Times printed my story”, said one.
IPCC deputy chair Rachel Cerfontyne said: “Our investigative work examining allegations about how South Yorkshire Police responded to reported child sexual exploitation in Rotherham continues to expand.
“This is complex work dealing with non-recent allegations and involving vulnerable and traumatised victims. We are committed to ensuring the allegations are investigated sensitively and thoroughly.”
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