Men took their pleasure as sexual exploitation became a way of life for many Rotherham children. Police watched it happen.

Junior police officers were guilty of numerous blunders but they took their lead from higher ranks whose commitment to tackling such crimes appeared barely lukewarm. In the South Yorkshire force, the rot began at the top and seeped down.

The town’s district commander for a four-year period from 2001, during which police ignored a series of warnings about the growing scale and severity of offending, was Detective Chief Superintendent Christine Burbeary.

Ms Burbeary was promoted to the post after her first marriage ended and she began a relationship with Martin Davies, who was then the force’s deputy chief constable and who had been on her