Shaun Wright, South Yorkshire Police And Crime Commissioner, Resigns Over Rotherham Child Abuse
Police Commissioner Finally Stands Down Over Child Abuse Scandal
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Shaun Wright has stepped down as South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner after weeks of pressure over the Rotherham sexual abuse scandal, his office has announced.
Mr Wright resisted calls to resign for weeks after the publication of a report that found 1,400 children suffered appalling abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013.
Before becoming commissioner, he was in charge of children's services at Rotherham Council from 2005 to 2010, when the abuse was taking place.
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Shaun Wright resisted calls to resign for weeks
Though the council leader resigned after the damning report was published, Mr Wright clung on, despite being suspended from - and having to leave - the Labour party, which said he should resign.
But in a statement released today by his office, Mr Wright resigned, saying: "My role as South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner has clearly become prominent in terms of public opinion and media coverage following the publication of Professor Alexis Jay's report.
"This is detracting from the important issue, which should be everybody's focus - the 1,400 victims outlined in the report - and in providing support to victims and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for the atrocious crimes committed against them.
"With this in mind, I feel that it is now right to step down from the position of police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire, for the sake of those victims, for the sake of the public of South Yorkshire and to ensure that the important issues outlined in the report about tackling child sexual exploitation can be discussed and considered in full and without distraction."
Mr Wright faced angry scenes last week as he appeared in public before the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, which oversees his work, as alleged victims of abuse shouted at him from the public gallery.
At times the meeting had to be stopped for appeals to be made for people to calm down as screams of derision were directed at the commissioner as he explained himself in Rotherham's council chamber.
The commissioner did not stick around at the end of the meeting to hear the Panel pass another vote of no confidence in him and endorse calls for a change in the law to enable him to be sacked.
The Home Secretary last week acknowledged ''there is a debate to be had'' over bringing in powers to recall PCCs.
Professor Alexis Jay's report revealed around 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham over the 16-year period, predominantly by men from the Pakistani community, and hit out at "blatant" collective failures by the council's leadership.
She found examples of "children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally-violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone''.
Mr Wright's resignation will trigger a by-election, the date of which is yet to be determined.
What the report on Rotherham child abuse said
What the Rotherham abuse report actually says
The Issue Of Ethnicity(01 of06)
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Those on the frontline in fighting child sexual abuse in Rotherham were "acutely aware" of "a general nervousness in the earlier years about discussing them, for fear of being though of racist". Senior people in the council and police conveyed the message that the "ethnic dimensions" of the abuse should be downplayed. But the report also says it was confident that "ethnic issue did not influence professional decision-making in individual cases". Staff had no personal experience of any attempt to influence their decision making over ethnic issues. The failure, by some councillors, to recognise that the 2010 convictions of abusers was part of a deep-rooted problem within the Pakistani-heritage community was "at best naive and at worst ignoring a politically inconvenient truth," the report says. (credit:Imgorthand via Getty Images)
A Lack Of 'Interest' In The Issue(02 of06)
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The council leadership (former council leader Roger Stone pictured) showed "little obvious leadership or interest" in child sexual exploitation, beyond their financial support for Risky Business, an outreach service for children at risk of it. Potential reasons for the lack of interest were "denial it could occur in Rotherham, concern it could damage community cohesion, worry about the reputation risk to the borough". Although the council funded Risky Business, its own Children's Services department regarded the service as "something of a nuisance" and the relationship between the two was tense. (credit:Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire)
Police 'Did Not Believe' Data About The Problem(03 of06)
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There were three earlier reports on the issue from 2002, 2003 and 2006. They all gave stark evidence to police and the council and "could not have been cleared in their description of the situation". But they failed to convince some. The 2002 report was "effectively suppressed" because senior officers at South Yorkshire Police did not believe the data it presented. The other two reports sought to identify links between child abuse and other crimes such as drugs and guns. The police and the council took no action in response to them. (credit:Dave Thompson/PA Archive)
Senior Leaders Didn't Support Staff(04 of06)
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In the early 2000s, a group of people from safeguarding agencies tried, on their own initiative, to meet to monitor large groups of the children deemed to be at risk of abuse. But senior managers with the police and the council's children's social care thought the scale of the problem, described by youth workers, was exaggerated and offered little help or support. (credit:Mykola Velychko via Getty Images)
Council Children's Services Were Understaffed(05 of06)
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From 2009, Rotherham Council's (chief executive Martin Kimber pictured) children's social care service was "acutely understaffed and overstretched", leaving it struggling to cope with demand. (credit:Dave Higgens/PA Wire)
Policies To Improve The Issue Were Devised - But Not Implemented Well(06 of06)
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New policies on procedures on child sexual exploitation were drawn up to help agencies work together, after Ofsted published a scathing report on the council's children's safeguarding services. But the follow-up in ensuring the policies were implemented was weak. Members of the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board did not check whether the policies were implemented or working well. "Their challenge and scrutiny was lacking over several years at a time when it was most required," the report says. Roger Stone, who led the council from 2003 until his resignation yesterday, apologised for the safeguarding being so poor. The report is less than forgiving: "This apology should have been made years earlier and the issue given the political leadership it needed." (credit:monkeybusinessimages via Getty Images)