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Anger at the sexual abuse of teenage girls by Pakistani grooming gangs is tearing a town apart with racial tension, a Sunday People investigation has revealed.

Multi-cutural Rotherham in South Yorkshire was rocked by a damning report this summer, which showed that 1,400 vulnerable youngsters have been targeted for sex since 1997.

Worryingly, we found hate crime has soared and mutual suspicion is rife since it was revealed the culprits were mainly British Asians.

Surly white teenage youths prowl Rotherham’s estates, mouthing racist threats, and the market town has become a magnet for right-wing groups like the English Defence League, Britain First and the BNP.

Even the most simple of misunderstandings can now spark a race row.

Rotherham parents Nick Barnfield and Sarah Cleaves claimed they were thrown off a bus and branded racists last month after singing TV’s Peppa Pig theme tune to their baby.

They claim a woman wearing a hijab took offence to the snorting sounds in the song, believing they referred to pork being forbidden by Islam.

The town has been disrupted by six official protest marches in recent weeks – but there are fears EDL gangs are trying to recruit local white youngsters.

(Image: Ross Parry / SWNS)

The biggest march so far attracted 1,000 people. Protesters have arrived in their hundreds, many wrapped in England flags and chanting anti-Muslim slogans.

Shop manager Saj Dean said: “These people come to our town, insult everyone, cost a fortune in policing and the only thing they leave behind is beer cans. What good are they doing?”

But not all the ill-feeling can be blamed on outsiders. Some local people seem to agree with the sentiments of the far-right groups.

In a town where unemployment runs at around 10 per cent, there are plenty of people ready to seek scapegoats among migrant residents.

Dad-of-one Mark Mason, 22, who lives on the troubled Eastwood estate, said: “There has always been a degree of racial tension here but people feel really peeved now because of what happened to those girls.

“I can see what the EDL and BNP are saying – there’s too many different people coming into this country. People will start taking matters into their own hands if something isn’t done.”

In a park, white teenagers asked about the scandal that has engulfed the town hurled racial insults.

“I’d slice them where it hurts,” vowed one boy.

Taxi drivers in Rotherham are particularly vulnerable to hostility because rogue cabbies were caught trafficking young girls and abusing them.

Up to 20 drivers are understood to have been taken off the road but worried Chloe, 16, and her friends said they still no longer hire Pakistani drivers.

Chloe said: “None of us will ever book a taxi or get into a car with them again.” Her friend added: “My dad takes me in and out of town now or I walk. It’s safer.

“If I call the taxi company, I tell them to send a white driver.”

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Meanwhile racial sensitivities flare over the smallest things.

We were told that a white pensioner bent down to admire a young baby in the street – and affectionately called the child a “little monkey”.

A passing Asian woman overheard the man’s words, assumed he was insulting her and loudly complained.

A witness said: “The woman was very agitated. She kept saying the man, who was in his 70s, had called her a monkey. He was adamant that he was just talking about the baby and got very upset.”

Official figures in Rotherham speak for themselves. Reports of race-related crimes more than tripled in the month after the Alexis Jay report into the scandal was released in August.

Reports of race-related assaults rose from three to seven. Race-related harassment were up from four to 19, and allegations of criminal damage linked to race crime rose from two to four.

But the figures could be the tip of the iceberg because people believe complaining about racism is pointless.

Taxi driver Kudim Hussain told us: “A man started hurling abuse at me about the sexual exploitation.

“He told me all Muslim women covered their faces because they had sideburns. I didn’t report it, it’s just not worth the hassle. Nothing gets done.”

(Image: Alamy)

Tensions are made worse by a feeling that the horrific sex abuse was not properly dealt with due to fear of being labelled politically incorrect.

Last week South Yorkshire police referred 14 staff to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over handling of abuse cases, between 1997 and 2013.

But many in Rotherham are pleading for calm.

A 62-year-old white woman said: “Most Asian people have nothing to do with this scandal. They just want to get on with their own lives, like us.

“It’s a disgrace that groups like the BNP are allowed to hijack our town.”

Worried traders fighting to protect Saturday shopping have started a petition to ban marches.

Dawn Ordish, who runs the Ink and Media shop, said: “You see hundreds of men marching down the street, with mums and children ­running for cover. Elderly people are scared to come into the town.”

And a mum in her thirties said: “What some people have said about Asians all being perverts is terrible. This is not about race. It’s about criminals.”