Number of victims over Jay Report period unlikely to rise again, say NCA

In February, the National Crime Agency said Prof Alexis Jay’s estimate that 1,400 children from the town had been groomed and sexually abused between 1997 and 2013 may fall short of the real total. The NCA said its analysis estimated there were 1,510 victims and survivors.

Today, NCA senior investigating officer, Paul Williamson, said that figure was unlikely to change.

“I don’t see that (1,510 figure) changing dramatically,” he said.

NCA investigators had finished scouring files from Rotherham’s social services and youth project Risky Business, he said, and so far his team had engaged with 290 victims.

Mr Williamson, who joined the investigation in January 2016, said getting convictions meant that confidence in the NCA was growing.

He said he had to draw on his and his team’s vast experience to tackle the latest Operation Stovewood investigation — which saw seven men convicted of 24 CSE offences today (Monday).

“It’s 17 years worth of work of a whole police force landing on your desk at one time,” he said.

“All the victims are equally deserving, as the vast majority have not been listened to — and if they have been listened to, they haven’t been believed.”

Mr Williamson said he had been supported by the work of the Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy, which has offices in Rotherham and Barnsley and is independent of the police and the National Crime Agency.

Mr Williamson said one of the biggest challenges he faced was joining “the dots between victims and offenders”.

He said: “What we have found in Rotherham — because it’s not an insignificant population, it’s a large geographical area — one of the challenges we face is identifying the link between the victims and the offenders.

“What we actually do is analyse the information we have from various files to indicate who are victims, how many times they have been offended against, and prioritise our investigations together with independent sexual violence advocates to go out and engage and interview these victims.

“From that information that is provided, and the evidence, we then look at that, analyse it and identify who those suspects are going to be.

“That can sometimes be a really lengthy process when offenders that are named by nickname only, but we’ve been having some huge successes in doing that and we’re building operations which we then present to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on charges.”

Mr Williamson said getting those offenders convicted was not only pleasing for his team but also the victims.

“We are a victim-focussed investigation, supporting them along the journey, and bringing offenders to justice,” he said.

“I think overall we have seen an increase in confidence not only in the NCA’s investigation but also in the ability to tackle these horrific crimes that have been suffered in the past.”