Rotherham Council has been ordered to apologise to a whistleblower who helped expose the mass exploitation of underage white girls by mostly Muslim men.
Jayne Senior, who has worked with grooming victims since 1999 and was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2016 for services to child protection, helped to blow the lid off a long-running grooming gang scandal in the town.
She revealed how council officials, social services, and police — paralysed by fears of racism accusations — failed to act while at least 1,400 girls were abused.
But just months after she received her award and published her memoirs, Broken and Betrayed, the council orchestrated a raid on the charity she runs, Swinton Lock, as part of an investigation which has now been slammed by the local government ombudsman.
The ombudsman has ordered Rotherham Council to apologise to Senior for continuously misleading her about the investigation’s progress, and keeping her in the dark about its details.
“I’m appalled it’s taken so long. It’s crazy how ill-informed [Senior] has been through the process,” commented Sarah Champion, the Member of Parliament for Rotherham.
The left-wing MP was herself forced to resign from Labour’s shadow government after admitting that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls” which the authorities are afraid to confront.
“In the five years I have been an MP I have never come across something like this affecting a constituent, let alone a councillor and a well-known whistleblower,” she added.
“You would think that the council would be trying to do everything in a timely manner. In fact, the opposite has happened.”
“As one of those who helped bring the Rotherham [child sexual exploitation] scandal to light, I will continue to support children and families who were systematically failed by those whose statutory duty was to protect them and I will continue to work with the authorities to ensure justice is served,” Senior said in a statement.
“I welcome the ombudsman’s decision but am disappointed that I have had to endure many months of unnecessary stress. Matters are now in the hands of our lawyers and consequently I cannot make any further comment.”