Abuse minister hears victims' stories

THE Government minister responsible for preventing abuse, exploitation and crime has made her first visit to the town to meet with child abuse survivors.

Karen Bradley MP, who was appointed as the Cabinet leader 12 months ago, visited Barnardo’s — for around an hour — council leaders and social services staff last week.

She told the Advertiser she had organised the visit.

“We have been looking at the reports in to what happened in Rotherham, the Jay and Casey reports, and working out what we needed to do differently,” she said

“As part of that work I needed to come and visit and meet people on the frontline and speak to victims.”

When asked why she had not visited the town sooner, she replied “It was not just a case of “jumping on the train and turning up” and that it was about finding an “appropriate time” and when the right people were available.

She added a lot of work had been going on behind the scenes and in other departments towards tackling and preventing CSE.

Ms Bradley said she met with three female victims of historical sexual abuse on an anonymous basis.

“I met them and heard their stories. I don’t know their names, but some were involved in the recent trial.

“I don’t know exactly how many but one person there talked about the recent trial.”

She said the survivors told her about not being listened to, not being believed and the police not taking them seriously.

“They also talked about what happened to them today and that they were now happy with the support they were getting.”

But when the Advertiser challenged Ms Bradley and said we had spoken with a survivor who still felt let down by the authorities, the telephone conversation was interrupted by her assistant who said we had to wrap up the interview.

The issue was put to her again and she said it was a “great shame” if the woman still felt let down and she could not comment on the specifics.

“The people I met and the commitment I saw from all the professionals was impressive.

“But there’s no doubt for far too long people were let down.”

She added: “I can only talk about what I heard.”

She said she also met RMBC leader Cllr Chris Read and Ian Thomas, director of children’s services, to discuss the multi-agency approach which she said was key to tackling CSE.

The interview was cut short by Ms Bradley’s team and we were told no further date for her to revisit Rotherham had been scheduled.

Cllr Read was unavailable for comment about her visit.