South Yorkshire Police — the force that turned a blind eye to the sexual grooming of 1400 girls by Muslim gangs in Rotherham — have confessed reporting to the media just a quarter of those charged with child sex offences, blaming a “clerical error”.
“It has become clear that, due to a clerical error, incorrect figures were released”, regarding, “data around child sexual exploitation offences since 2013”, the force revealed in a surprise statement issues late Monday evening.
They said they had, “told the BBC that 46 people were charged with child sexual exploitation-related offences” between January 2013 and the end of 2015. However, “accurate figures show that 177 people were actually charged”.
The force also slightly over reported the number of offences that had been ‘flagged’ to them; there were 695 rather than 681 in the same period.
“The data was released in good faith under the FOI [Freedom of Information] act and we have taken steps to release the accurate figures as soon as the error came to light”, they add, claiming that “tackling child sexual exploitation is a priority for South Yorkshire Police”.
The tone of the statement almost implies that the updated figures are a positive development. “That’s one person prosecuted for every 3.4 cases of child sexual exploitation in South Yorkshire, compared to the national average of one in five”, gloats the force.
However, only eight Muslim men have ever been charged, and just three convicted of the mass grooming of 1400 white girls in the town. Crimes exposed so comprehensively in the Jay report, which explained how they were allowed to go on in plain sight because police were frightened of “racism” accusations.
The news may go some way to explaining headlines like this: “Majority of Rotherham child exploitation suspects are white, claims new report”. The report only looked at those who had been “identified” by the police.