3m
18 Jan 2025

‘Hand over report on Rotherham child abuse scandal’ – Mayor to IOPC

Chief Correspondent

This week Channel 4 News revealed new allegations about the Rotherham child abuse scandal.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, the IOPC, investigated how police handled grooming gangs in the town.

1,400 children were attacked or groomed by men, mainly of Pakistani heritage, over decades.

Investigators who worked for the IOPC spoke exclusively to us, saying its work was seriously flawed and one said he was discouraged from probing the conduct of senior officers.

The Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, has written to the IOPC asking to see its unpublished report into the activities of senior officers.

We spoke to him and began by asking whether he thinks the IOPC really is independent, or whether it’s marking its own homework?

Oliver Coppard: I certainly hope it’s independent. I think what I ultimately want is to see the report so I can decide for myself whether or not that investigation was done properly and effectively and that people in South Yorkshire can have confidence in that work and that’s my job.

Alex Thomson: Have you asked them for it?

Oliver Coppard: Yeah, I’ve asked them for that report. My predecessor, I believe, asked them for it as well and they said no to him. I’m hoping that they had a change of heart because my job is to make sure that people in South Yorkshire have confidence in the work of the police force of South Yorkshire. And until and unless we know exactly what has gone on, that is incredibly difficult for me to reassure them on.

Alex Thomson: If, as you say, you’ve got oversight of the police force in your area on your patch, you can demand and have a right to that report, surely?

Oliver Coppard: You’d think so, wouldn’t you? That’s why I asked for it. Let’s not prejudge, we’ve sent them an email, we’ve asked them for the report. It’s a hugely important issue, of course. We need to have that information so that I can say yes or no, everything’s okay.

Alex Thomson: It is an issue, but is it that big? The IOPC themselves saying, we had a specific part of our investigation directed against senior officers to look into their conduct, frankly, there was nothing to see, no evidence of corruption. We did specifically look at it. What these people are saying isn’t true. Does that not put it to bed? You don’t seem to want to take them at their word.

Oliver Coppard: My job is to make sure that they’ve done everything they can. The police in South Yorkshire have done everything they possibly could have done. The people have been held to account. The victims and survivors have had the justice that they so desperately need and deserve. And until I’m satisfied and I know that to be the case, I’m not going to say that’s all right. Now it is a big deal. It’s a big deal not just to me, it’s a big deal to the people I represent. And that’s why I’m saying to the IOPC, hand over that report to me. I’m not necessarily saying make that public. I don’t know what’s in there, but hand it over to me. I’m the mayor of South Yorkshire. I want to see that report and I want to see it relatively swiftly.

Alex Thomson: Is this simply a matter of what was going on in Rotherham, or are there wider implications across the country? I know Rotherham was exceptional, two decades at least, 1,400 girls abused. Is that just a particular problem in that town or do you think there’s national implications here?

Oliver Coppard: Of course there are national implications. Of course there are. And that’s what the work that Alexis Jay then did for the government, having already worked in South Yorkshire, went on to find and it was an incredibly in-depth report that showed that this is a national issue. Of course, Rotherham has got huge problems that it has then gone on and dealt with. And look, I should be clear, South Yorkshire Police is under completely new leadership. The council are under completely new leadership and right across South Yorkshire we take these issues incredibly seriously in the way that they always should have been taken incredibly seriously. We’re happy to work with people across the rest of the country to show them what exactly we’ve done to get to the place we’re now in. But it’s an issue for the whole of the country, of course. I think everybody across the country takes that seriously, not least, of course, the government.