What was the Rotherham sex abuse scandal, who were the child grooming gang and are the law changes proposed?
ROTHERHAM has become a byword for scandal — a town where the sexual exploitation of hundreds of young white girls by Asian grooming gangs went on under the the noses of authorities for years and even decades.
But how was the systematic abuse uncovered, who were among the twisted offenders and who helped speak up for the victims?
What is the Rotherham sex abuse scandal?
Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was at epidemic levels from as early as the 1980s before being exposed in 2012.
A series of articles by journalist Andrew Norfolk in The Times revealed the vast scale of child protection failings in the town — saying the police and social services knew of but did little about the danger Asian grooming gangs posed.
These investigations coincided with the conviction of 12 men of predominantly British-Pakistani heritage for running a vast child abuse ring in nearby Rochdale in May 2012.
Their victims numbered 47 mainly white girls who ringleader Shabir Ahmed, 59, accused of being "prostitutes" and willing sexual participants. He was handed a 19-year sentence.
Pressure mounted on Rotherham Council to investigate the scale of its own problem, and in August 2014 the independently commissioned Jay report shocked the country.
It revealed that at least 1,400 children, most of them white girls aged 11–15, had been sexually abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 by predominantly British-Pakistani men.
Police, schools, social workers and other authorities largely turned a blind eye on the abuse, the report said, out of fear of being branded racist.
It added that horrific rape, threats, violence, and child pregnancies, miscarriages and abortions were rife.
Rotherham's entire Council executive resigned, as did its Director of Child Services and the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire police.
A 2015 government report by Louise Casey into Rotherham Council found that bullying and intimidation by council staff led to a silencing of whistleblowers and was it "not fit for purpose".
Subsequent trials of twisted child abusers have taken place.
In 2016 and so far in 2017 as many as 19 men and two women have been convicted.
The worst offenders, brothers Ashrid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain, were jailed for 35 years, 25 years and 19 years respectively in February 2016.
They were jailed alongside their uncle Qurban Ali, who was handed 10 years, as well as associates Karen MacGregor, jailed for 13 years, and Shelley Davies who was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.
In November 2016, Sageer Hussain, Ishtiaq Khaliq, Waleed Ali, Masoued Malik, Asif Ali, Naeem Rafiq, and Mohammed Whied were jailed for between 19 years and five years. Basharat Hussain was given another seven years to add to his 25-year sentence.
In August 2017, Corbyn ally Naz Shah MP, who was suspended a year earlier for anti-Semitic online posts, appeared to endorse on Twitter a comment that said Rotherham victims should "shut their mouths" for "the good of diversity".
A spokesman for Ms Shah said: “This was a genuine accident eight days ago that was rectified within minutes. To suggest otherwise is absolute nonsense."
Rotherham council was ordered in April 2018 to apologise to whistleblower Jayne Senior who helped to expose the horrific grooming scandal.
Senior, now a Labour councillor, has worked with victims of grooming and sexual exploitation since 1999.
What law changes are being proposed?
Brave grooming victim Sammy Woodhouse, who has wavered her anonymity, has called for a law change.
The 33-year-old claimed the father of her child, who raped her as a teenager, was invited by a council to play a role in her son's life.
Arshid Hussain, who was jailed for 35 years in 2016 after being convicted of 23 child sex offences, was told by Rotherham Council that he could seek visits from the child, The Times claims.
The newspaper said that Hussain, the boy's father, was listed as a "respondent" in a Family Court case involving the boy, and was therefore contacted by the local authority, who promised to keep him informed of all future proceedings.
The Times said that, during a hearing last year, the boy's mother was told that the convicted sex offender would be allowed to attend court and make legal representations.
The story had initially been anonymised, but Sammy Woodhouse, a victim of the Rotherham child sex exploitation scandal, revealed on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that the child involved is her son.
Rotherham sex abuse scandal
Who is MP Sarah Champion?
Sarah Champion MP is the Labour Member of Parliament for Rotherham who helped with investigations into, and supported victims of, abuse in the town.
In response to the Jay Report, which uncovered the shocking 1,400 victims of abuse, she asked the then-Home Secretary Theresa May for more resources to tackle the abuse and bring offenders to justice.
She also called for additional funding for victim support and in November 2014 she called on Prime Minister David Cameron to ensure government departments work together to prevent horrific abuse on such a scale to happen again.
In August 2017 Mrs Champion resigned from the shadow cabinet for bravely speaking out about the problem of Asian grooming gangs in the UK.
In response to another vast child abuse ring uncovered in Newcastle, she wrote in The Sun that "Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls".
Supporters of hard left leader Jeremy Corbyn are thought to have put pressure on Mrs Champion to step down for what they perceived as racism.
Andrew Norfolk, the reporter who helped uncover the Rotherham abuse in the first place, wrote: "Sarah Champion has fallen victim to the same liberal squeamishness that for years allowed street-grooming sex crimes against young white girls to flourish unchecked."