Evidence has emerged of a high-level cover-up by senior staff at Rotherham council

Senior staff at Rotherham council ordered a raid on one of their offices to remove case files and wipe computer records detailing the scale and severity of the town’s sex-grooming crisis, sources have told The Times.

Details of what frontline staff viewed as a high-level cover-up are revealed today after an independent inquiry which found that 1,400 children fell victim to grotesque levels of violence and abuse in the South Yorkshire town.

The Times has learnt that in 2002 an extraordinary raid was carried out at the office of Risky Business, Rotherham council’s specialist youth service, which offered one-to-one help and support to vulnerable teenage girls.

It took place shortly after senior police and council staff became aware of the contents of the draft