Abuse of Rotherham girl, 12, 'most shocking case ever examined' by social care expert

The case of a 12-year-old girl who became a victim of sexual exploitation while being looked after in a local children's unit has been described as the 'most shocking I have ever come across' by a senior social work expert.

By The Newsroom Wednesday, 6th September 2017, 11:49 pm Updated Monday, 11th September 2017, 12:49 pm

Councillors in Rotherham were told details of the shocking case.

Jean Imray, who specialises in supporting councils found to be failing children, conducted a review of 15 cases highlighted by the Jay report.

She said that in the case of Child E “the failings were of such magnitude that a more detailed, forensic review of that case was warranted”. She there appeared to be evidence of “significant culpability by at least two social care professionals.”

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The Jay report described how there was a “level of chaos” in the care of Child E, “with staff powerless as older children in the residential units introduced younger and more vulnerable children like Child E to predatory adult males who were targeting children’s homes”.

The child was then prematurely moved into semi-independent accommodation, where was at even greater risk of harm.

But Rotherham Council chief executive Sharon Kemp said despite the calls for further investigations, there were the “same issues of the difficulty of holding individuals to account” as there had been in other areas of the reports.

Ms Imray’s reports concluded “there are insufficient grounds to proceed with any action against any individual practitioner or team manager” in the other 14 cases she examined after they were first highlighted by Professor Jay in 2014.