BREAKING NEWS: Report slams “in denial” council over child sex scandal

Troubled Families expert Louise Casey, who was appointed in the autumn to inspect the authority, said she had found “a council in denial”.

Her 157-page report put the responsibility for the abuse which took place in Rotherham with “the vile perpetrators” but said the council had “at times taken more care of its reputation than it has its of its most needy”.

Ms Casey said: “Terrible things happened in Rotherham and on a significant scale.

“Children were sexually exploited by men who came largely from the Pakistani Heritage Community.

“Not enough was done to acknowledge this, to stop it happening, to protect children, to support victims and to apprehend perpetrators.”

When she arrived in Rotherham, Ms Casey said, the council “denied that there had been a problem, or if there had been, that it was as big as was said”.

She added: “If there was a problem they certainly were not told —– it was someone else’s job. They were no worse than anyone else. They had won awards. The media were out to get them.”

Ms Casey also accused the council of failing to accept the findings of Prof Alexis Jay’s CSE report last August.

She aded: “We must not lose sight of what the failures in Rotherham have meant in practice — victims have been hurt and remain without justice, the Pakistani Heritage Community has been harmed by association , as have individual social workers, police officers, taxi drivers and other hard working people in the council, voluntary sectors and the town of Rotherham more broadly.

“Child abuse and exploitation happens all over the country, but Rotherham is different in that it was repeatedly told by its own youth service what was happening and it chose, not only to not act, but to close that service (Risky Business) down.

“This is important because it points to how it has dealt with uncomfortable truths put before it. However, I propose that this report is one uncomfortable truth that will not be ignored, but that Rotherham Council will use it to embrace the change so sorely needed and ensure that from here it get its priorities right.”