Former South Yorkshire Police officers hired by NCA to investigate child abuse scandal

A number of former SYP officers have been hired by the NCA to work on Operation Stovewood on the understanding that they have never worked in Rotherham.

The NCA’s senior investigating officer, Paul Williamson, said there had been an agreement at the beginning of the operation in January, 2015, not to recruit any SYP officers — but this had now been changed.

“It’s on the understanding that they have never worked in Rotherham or worked on child sexual abuse in Rotherham,” said Mr Williamson.

George Barr, strategic co-ordinator of Operation Stovewood, said the number of former SYP officers working on the investigation was in single figures.

“There’s nothing that prohibits these people being involved,” he said.

“We’re trying to recruit 250 staff within the locality in South Yorkshire, so we’re talking about reality here.

“There’s a number of (SYP) officers day in, day out who are doing a fantastic job and on that basis we have involved a number of people from South Yorkshrie Police and they are doing a really great job.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating allegations of police misconduct.

In July, the IOPC announced SYP’s entire senior command team who policed Rotherham over the Jay Report period was being investigated.

It is the first time ever that a police force’s entire senior command team has come under investigation by the police watchdog — which investigates the most serious allegations against forces.

The probe will form part of the IOPC’s Operation Linden which is investigating 33 former and current police officers.