Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter, Rochdale child sex ring

- Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter and the politics of paedophile rings
- Rochdale police and council 'repeatedly warned' about sex abuse risk in town
- Rochdale child sex ring: council head to be questioned by MPs
Leader to be asked why social workers 'missed opportunities', as lawyer for victims considers legal action against authority  
- Rochdale abuse scandal: Victims likely to sue


Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter and the politics of paedophile rings  2 November 2012 Michael Salter

In Britain, the sexual abuse allegations against television personality Jimmy Savile have now implicated glam rocker Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr. Police have intimated that other high-profile arrests are forthcoming.

These developments have finally given credence to the accounts of many victims – who over the years have maintained that Savile was part of an organised group of men who shared his sexual interest in minors....

Victims can find it very difficult finding someone to take them seriously. An independent 2010 report into child protection in Britain, which was not made public but was quoted in the UK print media, found child victims of sexually abusive groups were often ignored by the authorities. One victim complained:

    The authorities did not understand what was happening to us, either because they did not believe us or because they could not comprehend that something as serious as this was possible.

Until his death in 2011, Savile was a much-loved British media personality. Now, he is the subject of allegations of sexual abuse from at least 300 victims dating back decades. Questions have been raised about how much friends and colleagues knew about, and potentially colluded in, these crimes....

Accounts of organised abuse have circled around Savile for some years. They have not been acted upon until now. Investigations into Savile’s involvement in the abuse of children at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home in Jersey, dismissed in 2008 for “lack of evidence”, have now been reopened. New evidence has not emerged. Simply put, there is new pressure on the relevant authorities to be seen to be taking these allegations seriously....
 
https://theconversation.edu.au/jimmy-savile-gary-glitter-and-the-politics-of-paedophile-rings-10461



Rochdale police and council 'repeatedly warned' about sex abuse risk in town

NHS team made 83 referrals to borough council from 2004-10 in town harbouring gang of nine finally jailed over child sex ring      Rachel Williams      The Guardian, Wednesday 26 September 2012


Social workers and police in a town where nine men were found guilty of running a child sexual exploitation ring had been warned dozens of times that local girls were at risk of abuse in the years before charges were brought in that case, the Guardian can reveal.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that an NHS team providing sexual health services to vulnerable young people made 83 referrals to Rochdale borough council about girls they thought were either being sexually exploited, or were at risk of exploitation, between 2004 and the end of 2010.

Staff on the crisis intervention team (CIT) also made 44 referrals to Greater Manchester police in the same period.

The revelations come as Rochdale's safeguarding children board (SCB) publishes a review concluding there were "many missed opportunities" over the past five years to safeguard children and young people affected by sexual exploitation. A working group set up by the SCB in 2007 identified in its first year 50 young people affected by, or at risk of, exploitation, the report reveals.

At a Liverpool crown court trial this year, nine men were found to have "shared" five girls in Rochdale, plying them with fast food, drink and drugs so they could "pass them around" and use them for sex.

The victims, were raped, physically assaulted and forced to have sex with several men in a day, several times a week....

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk said: "The Guardian's investigation shows without any doubt that police and social services ignored an endemic problem of abuse.

"Time and again, the local authority were alerted to the fact these girls were being abused and they failed to do anything. We now need to know what action is being taken against these people that turned a blind eye to abuse and ignored numerous cries for help from young, vulnerable girls."

The father of the victim referred to in the review said he believed that social workers were incompetent: "Case files show that social workers in Rochdale believed girls who were being systematically abused were 'making their own choices'. By their neglect, they were complicit in prolonging the abuse. If they had being doing their job, they could have stopped this abuse years ago."....
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/27/rochdale-police-sex-abuse-girls




Rochdale child sex ring: council head to be questioned by MPs

Leader to be asked why social workers 'missed opportunities', as lawyer for victims considers legal action against authority
    Lizzy Davies The Guardian, Thursday 27 September 2012

The head of Rochdale council will be questioned by MPs over why his social workers "missed opportunities" to stop the sexual exploitation of young girls, it has emerged, as a lawyer for some of the victims said it was "very likely" they would take legal action against the local authority....

It revealed that, in 2007, a working group set up by the RBSCB had identified 50 young people – most aged between 10 and 17 – whom it believed to be affected by or at risk of exploitation.

Figures obtained separately by the Guardian showed social workers and police had made dozens of referrals concerning girls considered either to be victims or potential victims.....
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/27/rochdale-sex-ring-council-legal-action


Rochdale abuse scandal: Victims likely to sue
Paul Keaveny  Thursday 27 September 2012

Victims of a child sex ring may take legal action against the authorities for failing to protect them after a damning report laid bare the extent of their failings.

Social workers, police and prosecutors "missed opportunities" to stop a child exploitation ring abusing young girls, a report into the scandal revealed today.

"Deficiencies" in the way children's social care responded to the victims' needs in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were caused by "patchy" training of frontline staff, the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) said in its 29-page report into child sexual exploitation (CSE)....

The picture which emerges from the report is one of vulnerable young girls, some as young as 10, who were being targeted for sexual abuse, being written off by those in authority who believed the girls were "making their own choices" and "engaging in consensual sexual activity".

In reality, girls were being raped and often violently beaten.

The judge who sentenced the nine men said they treated their victims "as though they were worthless and beyond any respect".

Richard Scorer, a solicitor for some of the abused girls, said it was "very likely" they would be taking legal action against the authorities for failing to protect them....

The gang of nine men received jail sentences of between four and 19 years in May.

The offences happened in and around Rochdale in 2008 and 2009.

The five girls - aged between 13 and 15 - were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but there were times when violence was used.

Police said the victims were from "chaotic", "council estate" backgrounds and as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang.

A chance to stop the gang was missed in 2008 and both the police and the CPS were forced to apologise for their failings....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rochdale-abuse-scandal-victims-likely-to-sue-8181056.html