Rotherham council staff 'seized files and wiped computers to cover up scale of child sex grooming'

Council officials 'ordered raid on youth service ahead of 2000 report'

'Seized nothing but details of abuse victims, alleged attackers and cases'



Children's services chief Joyce Thacker still refused to resign on Thursday



She insisted that 'a sense of proportionality' was needed about the abuse

Said Rotherham Council made 'clear improvements' under her leadership



Rotherham council staff seized and destroyed damning evidence of a hidden child sex abuse scandal, reports claim.



The alleged cover-up has been reported just days after it emerged the abuse of 1,400 girls went uninvestigated for 16 years.



Officials are said to have ordered a raid on the town's young people's service centre and seized nothing but the details of victims, offenders, and grooming cases that would have contributed to a landmark report in 2000, The Times reported.

Scroll down for video



Cover-up? Council officials are said to have seized details that would have exposed the abuses in 2000

The Home Office report on the South Yorkshire town has yet to be published.



The allegations will pile pressure on officials including embattled children’s services chief Joyce Thacker, who was still refusing to resign last night despite mounting evidence of her extraordinary complacency during a period of horrific and widespread child abuse.



Just five months ago she insisted that ‘a sense of proportionality’ was needed about the problem.



Even after several critical reports into the council’s failure to deal with child abuse, Mrs Thacker told the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board that she did not want it to focus entirely on child abuse.



Minutes of a meeting in March this year show she ‘reiterated’ that the council, social services and police ‘need to retain a sense of proportionality with regard to child sexual exploitation’.



Mrs Thacker, who earns £115,000 a year, said the issue made up just ‘2.3 per cent of safeguarding work in Rotherham’, adding: ‘Although it is a very important issue, child neglect is a much more significant problem in the borough.’



Professor Alexis Jay’s report said: ‘This is not an appropriate message for senior managers to give.’



Defiant response: Joyce Thacker told a meeting that agencies need to 'retain a sense of proportionality' with regards to the widespread sex abuse scandal in Rotherham that spanned 16 years

But in a defiant statement last night, Mrs Thacker said the report found the council made ‘clear and significant improvements’ under her leadership.



She said: ‘Like most people, I feel appalled at the horrific experiences which many of our young people went through, and I add my sincere apologies to those who were let down by our services... It lays bare what went wrong, and there are simply no excuses.



‘These are very difficult times and we need all of the experience and ability we can bring to bear.



‘The best way I can exercise my responsibility is to drive forward the report’s recommendations, and make sure young people in Rotherham are even safer.’



Mrs Thacker’s predecessor, Sonia Sharp, yesterday admitted most senior staff would have known of the scale of the abuse.



Dr Sharp, who now works in Australia, said she was briefed when she joined the authority in 2005. She said: ‘We knew there were many children in the community at risk and feared that this was the tip of an iceberg.’



She admitted the predominant view had been that abuse victims were ‘promiscuous teenagers in consensual relationships’.



The Home Affairs Select Committee has criticised Mrs Thacker for viewing prosecution of rapists as a ‘secondary’ priority – which it found was partly to blame for an abysmal lack of convictions.



Martin Kimber, chief executive of Rotherham Council, last night refused to sack Mrs Thacker.



He said: ‘Alexis Jay has made it very clear to me in her report that Joyce Thacker is part of the solution in achieving better services.’

’