Head of children's social care: Andy Couldrick, 52, allegedly thwarted a former police officer’s attempts to raise concerns about child abuse by Asian men

A council chief who backed the Baby P social workers and has been accused of silencing a whistleblower over the Oxford child sex ring scandal has been promoted to a top job in local government.

Andy Couldrick, 52, was head of children’s social care at Oxfordshire County Council when he allegedly thwarted a former police officer’s attempts to raise concerns about child abuse by Asian men.

But in 2011 – after his controversial intervention, which was detailed in an official report earlier this week – Mr Couldrick was appointed chief executive of Wokingham Borough Council in Berkshire on £155,000 a year.

It has since emerged that Mr Couldrick has attacked politicians and the media over their ‘disgraceful treatment’ of social workers in the Baby P child abuse scandal.

Following a documentary about Baby P late last year, he wrote on Twitter: ‘Media and politicians “responding to public mood?” I think not.

‘Conspired to create moral panic and witch hunt. Many should feel ashamed. Disgraceful treatment of social workers confirmed.’

He also described a 2014 Panorama documentary, which considered whether parents had lost their children unfairly thanks to secret family courts, as ‘a shameful piece of journalism’, adding: ‘Such a poor, partial, sensationalist piece of journalism, offering no right of reply for my authority. Shame on you Panorama.’

Tragic case: Mr Couldrick has attacked politicians and the media over their ‘disgraceful treatment’ of social workers in the Baby P (pictured) child abuse scandal

Details of his promotion will deepen controversy over the Oxford grooming case, which saw men of mainly Pakistani origin targeting white underage girls in care on an ‘industrial scale’.

On Tuesday, a Serious Case Review report revealed how a council worker who wrote a series of emails warning of child abuse by Asian men in Oxfordshire was silenced after a complaint by senior officials about his attitude.

New role: The head of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton (pictured) - whose officers failed scores of girls - has been promoted to a £185,000-a-year job in charge of the country’s chief constables

The worker, an ex-detective, repeatedly raised concerns with the director of children’s services and other officials at the county council in 2007 after seeing a 13-year-old in bed with an adult.

He also reported a stream of men going into a flat every night and emerging in the early hours.

But instead of dealing with his complaints, a senior council official complained about his behaviour and his manager apologised for the ‘unprofessional way’ in which he had acted.

Sources have claimed that the senior council official who had asked a colleague to complain about the emails was in fact Mr Couldrick.

The men were eventually jailed in 2013 after being found guilty of a string of sex offences, including 25 offences against the child whose case the council worker had tried to highlight.

The report, by the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board, said: ‘This episode is one that agencies must learn from.’

However the head of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton – whose officers failed scores of girls – has been promoted to a £185,000-a-year job in charge of the country’s chief constables.

And on the eve of the report’s publication, Mr Couldrick’s former boss at Oxfordshire County Council – Joanna Simons – was offered £600,000 in a generous redundancy package.

Mr Couldrick said in a statement: ‘I deeply regret that we didn’t have the correct information to enable us to see the patterns and the whole picture during this period. If we had, we could have done something about it and stopped it then and there.’