Ex-council manager says Police prioritised car crime over sexual abuse
A woman who ran a unit to tackle sexual exploitation for more than a decade has accused senior police officers of failing to act on the problem and telling her that burglary and car crime were more of a priority.
Ann Lucas, who ran a council-based service to help victims of sexual exploitation in Sheffield between 2001 and 2012, said she regularly passed information to senior police but was shocked to find they did not want to prosecute.
Ms Lucas said she went to see a chief superintendent in Sheffield in 2006 about a group of Iraqi men who were abusing a number of teenage girls.
She said: “I described the crimes that had been perpetrated against them, which were really rape, abduction, being trafficked, taken to other cities, and I was told by one particular senior police officer, that was all very well but their priorities were actually burglary and car crime.”
Asked if she felt she was banging her head against a wall, she said: “It felt that way for a long time really, for years. Because it wasn’t a priority.”
Ms Lucas collated a database of alleged perpetrators, including suspected addresses and cars, but the police were not interested in prosecuting, she said.
She said: “There were arrests and child abduction notices (were served), so they might move off that young person, but without the prosecuting strand being strong, we could divert the person away but with the message (to the abusers) that you could get away with this, so they would move on to other young people.”
South Yorkshire Police told the BBC it would look into the allegations and said it had increased the number of staff working on child sexual exploitation six-fold since 2013.
The force is already under intense scrutiny following the child sexual exploitation scandal in nearby Rotherham.
The National Crime Agency is set to investigate outstanding historical allegations of child sexual exploitation in the town.
Professor Alexis Jay’s report into exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 found that at least 1,400 children were targeted. The Jay Report said senior police and council officials failed to tackle the problem.
Lily Caprani, director of strategy at the Children’s Society, said: “These allegations are alarming and it’s absolutely right that South Yorkshire Police investigate them thoroughly. The police inquiries must be transparent and the findings made public.
“It’s crucial that, while the force looks into claims of police misconduct, the primary focus must be the welfare of victims, bringing abusers to justice, and making sure the best systems are in place to effectively protect all children.
“We know from our work with hundreds of victims of child sex abuse that far too many are still being let down by the very organisations who are supposed to be protecting them.
“Children need to be listened to and taken seriously but sadly we find that, too often, their calls for help are ignored and they are forced to live with the consequences of abuse for the rest of their lives.”
She added: “There needs to be adequate training for all staff working with children.”
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