:00:11. > :00:25.Reaction from South Yorkshire Police to that case involving those six
:00:26. > :00:30.people were found guilty of systematic sexual abuse of girls in
:00:31. > :00:38.Rotherham including three brothers, Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras
:00:39. > :00:44.Hussain. The senior investigating officer gave the statement. This
:00:45. > :00:50.lengthily try Max accommodation of a two and a half year investigation.
:00:51. > :00:56.Into the systematic and organised sexual abuse of young girls in
:00:57. > :01:00.Rotherham. The verdict today marks a crucial milestone for those victims
:01:01. > :01:04.and survivors who endured years of horrific sexual abuse at the hands
:01:05. > :01:11.of these individuals. They have shown incredible bravery. For many
:01:12. > :01:16.of these young women it shattered their lives and caused life changing
:01:17. > :01:22.damage. I cannot begin to Britain towards that these women experienced
:01:23. > :01:26.from young age. For their courage and support in this investigation I
:01:27. > :01:31.am eternally thankful and I cannot express how pleased I am for them
:01:32. > :01:38.that their voices have been heard, and believed, and those responsible
:01:39. > :01:45.have been publicly accountable. The vulnerable victims project and
:01:46. > :01:48.voluntary agencies employ fantastic people who are extremely passionate
:01:49. > :01:53.about supporting victims and I cannot thank them enough. We want to
:01:54. > :01:58.recognise our team, the prosecution barristers who have guided the
:01:59. > :02:02.victims through this process and done a fun does the job of
:02:03. > :02:06.prosecuting this case. Two defendants were found not guilty and
:02:07. > :02:16.I respect the verdict and the legal system I work too. This prosecution
:02:17. > :02:21.covers offences dated from 1987 until 2003. We have secured the
:02:22. > :02:26.conviction of six individuals with 45 criminal offences and accept
:02:27. > :02:30.there is still much to do. I have an extremely dedicated and passionate
:02:31. > :02:34.team and we will regroup tomorrow with the same enthusiasm for the
:02:35. > :02:38.next stage of the investigation. I can only hope the victims see the
:02:39. > :02:43.result on the work of the agencies involved throughout to bring this
:02:44. > :02:46.case before the courts. I hope this gives them the confidence to come
:02:47. > :02:51.forward and tell someone what happened and may still be happening.
:02:52. > :02:55.If victims of sexual abuse come to the police we will help them,
:02:56. > :02:58.support them and do everything we can to put these criminals
:02:59. > :03:05.responsible in prison where they belong. Prosecutors say the victims
:03:06. > :03:16.suffered degrading and violent abuse.
:03:17. > :03:24.It has been 16 years and I feel I cannot get closure until I went to
:03:25. > :03:35.court. How much control that he have over your life? I first met him just
:03:36. > :03:40.after my 40th -- 14th birthday and I was involved with him for two years.
:03:41. > :03:45.For the majority of my life I did not recognise that I was groomed and
:03:46. > :03:51.abused. When I first met him he came across really nice and paid me
:03:52. > :03:56.compliments, took me to nice places, but very quickly he started being
:03:57. > :04:04.controlling. I was not allowed to do anything without his permission. He
:04:05. > :04:09.isolated me from friends and family, friends I had had since I was four.
:04:10. > :04:16.It became that the only person in my world was him. He was very violent
:04:17. > :04:21.towards me. But were times when I thought he was going to kill me.
:04:22. > :04:27.People were trying to get you out of this. Why wasn't so difficult escape
:04:28. > :04:34.from? I remember my family were trying to get me out of it -- was
:04:35. > :04:39.it. Professionals as well. I thought they were against me. He would be
:04:40. > :04:44.telling me they were jealous and do not want us to be together and I
:04:45. > :04:49.believed him. How much power, influence, did the Hussain brothers
:04:50. > :04:54.have over you? Very powerful for a very long time. There was a lot of
:04:55. > :05:02.people scared of them, not just children like myself. They had
:05:03. > :05:10.connections within police, the council. They totally dominated
:05:11. > :05:16.Rotherham. That was a lot of police officers that saw me as a child with
:05:17. > :05:25.an attitude problem. There were failings on massive levels. The fact
:05:26. > :05:31.that the police officer can leave... I was a child... With an adult that
:05:32. > :05:37.was so dangerous, it sickens me. Everyone needs to recognise the
:05:38. > :05:42.signs of grooming and abuse and act on it and deal with victims in a
:05:43. > :05:48.proper way so that they come forward and victims can trust the
:05:49. > :05:52.authorities. One of the victims of that systematic abuse according to
:05:53. > :05:55.the police. We can join our team in Yorkshire.
:05:56. > :06:01.Now on BBC News we join the Look North team in Yorkshire
:06:02. > :06:06.for a special programme on the Rotherham abuse trial.
:06:07. > :06:17.They had written letters and told a reporter they had effectively been
:06:18. > :06:23.stopped from doing their job. Every service they had contact with let
:06:24. > :06:35.them down. We had known about those seen brothers for more than a
:06:36. > :06:41.decade. They were well known before. Rotherham knew this was going on but
:06:42. > :06:45.nothing was done. We have spoken to three women who tell their own story
:06:46. > :06:52.of speaking to the council and police about it over and over again.
:06:53. > :06:55.They said they were ignored. Adele Gladman was researching a project
:06:56. > :07:00.for the Home Office Rotherham Council in the early 2000. It did
:07:01. > :07:05.not take her long to find out what was happening. It was the first week
:07:06. > :07:10.I started work, people were telling me about this family in Rotherham,
:07:11. > :07:16.what was happening, and as time went on I heard it from more and more
:07:17. > :07:20.people. This person runs a charity which worked with parents in
:07:21. > :07:25.Rotherham. We tried our hardest to tell people but what we found was we
:07:26. > :07:28.were continually being blocked so we went to the police, the local
:07:29. > :07:38.authority, the chief executive, the Home Office. Obviously I was raising
:07:39. > :07:45.concerns with the council but I was also sharing information regularly
:07:46. > :07:49.with the police. Jane senior ran a project working with young girls in
:07:50. > :07:54.the town. One of the most upsetting thing is for everybody and for me is
:07:55. > :08:00.these children were telling the truth. Repeated warnings were given
:08:01. > :08:03.to those who could have helped. A series of letters and evidence was
:08:04. > :08:08.given to the council and police but no one listened and Adele claims
:08:09. > :08:12.that worse than that her research was changed. When it became obvious
:08:13. > :08:16.that that was the information that was going to go back to the Home
:08:17. > :08:23.Office attempts were made to cleanse the data, to change the research
:08:24. > :08:28.findings, to dilate them. They did not want to have this dirty washing
:08:29. > :08:34.boot out into the public. They did not want to face up to the problems
:08:35. > :08:38.that they had. I genuinely believed that the other professionals in
:08:39. > :08:40.Rotherham would work alongside me in addressing the criminal behaviour
:08:41. > :08:45.that was going on but preventing further abuse, and the amount of
:08:46. > :08:50.effort that went into suppressing the research findings was shocking.
:08:51. > :08:56.These three women tried to tell whoever they could what was going
:08:57. > :09:00.on. Add they been listened to it could have been stopped over a
:09:01. > :09:04.decade ago. The frustrating thing for me is that the evidence, the
:09:05. > :09:09.foundation of the court case, was there 15 years ago. When every
:09:10. > :09:13.institution that you're trying to tell will not listen to you it is
:09:14. > :09:19.very difficult to know where to go next. One of the things one of the
:09:20. > :09:24.girls says to us is nobody can ever change what happened to me, nobody
:09:25. > :09:29.will ever make that go away and it is going to be with me for the rest
:09:30. > :09:33.of my life. We were the whistle-blowers and they chose not
:09:34. > :09:40.to hear us, hair chose to in a way get rid of us. James Vincent put
:09:41. > :09:44.some of their allegations to police and the council.
:09:45. > :09:48.Are you undertaking any investigation as to what went wrong
:09:49. > :09:52.and if things were covered up? There is still work being done looking at
:09:53. > :09:56.whether there were individuals who can be held to account. The failings
:09:57. > :10:04.were serious and widespread than most of the senior personnel have
:10:05. > :10:10.changed but there is work on going. If there are people who held to
:10:11. > :10:16.account they will be. There has been an appealed to the IPCC. The Chief
:10:17. > :10:23.Constable has commissioned a review. I cannot go into detail at the
:10:24. > :10:27.moment. Do you not want to apologise to the bebop would have been in
:10:28. > :10:33.court telling their that this was not all out 15 years ago? I have
:10:34. > :10:37.apologised before and we and we recognise we made mistakes. We have
:10:38. > :10:42.to make sure we rectify those mistakes and that those responsible
:10:43. > :10:49.are brought to justice. The IPCC says it has 55 ongoing
:10:50. > :10:54.investigations into houses Yorkshire police dealt with child sexual
:10:55. > :10:59.exploitation ranging from failure to act to corruption. 26 police
:11:00. > :11:04.officers have been served notices advising they are the subject of an
:11:05. > :11:12.investigation into their conduct but there are more than 100 allegations
:11:13. > :11:18.of officers not being identified. Alan Billings joins us. How could
:11:19. > :11:23.the police allow these men to get away with it? That is the
:11:24. > :11:31.extraordinary question. It beggars belief. This was a major scandal.
:11:32. > :11:36.People whose job it was to recognise a crime did not see this as the
:11:37. > :11:40.crime and act upon it and it is extraordinary. They did not see
:11:41. > :11:48.these children as children and these victims as victims. 26 officers have
:11:49. > :11:55.misconduct notices on them, another 100 not identified and we assume
:11:56. > :12:01.they are working for the force. How can people have confidence in South
:12:02. > :12:06.Yorkshire Police? My job as Police and Crime Commissioner is to speed
:12:07. > :12:12.up that process. They are with the IPCC at the moment. We need those
:12:13. > :12:16.reports, their investigation, to be completed because some officers will
:12:17. > :12:20.be exonerated and some will have to face serious charges but until that
:12:21. > :12:26.work is done you do not know how to act. 18 months since the report
:12:27. > :12:32.findings, when will these officers be held to account? You have the
:12:33. > :12:39.opportunity to see a date. The problem as it is not up to me, it is
:12:40. > :12:44.with the IPCC. We are seeing them on Mandy and saying it is intolerable
:12:45. > :12:48.and you must bring your investigations to a conclusion
:12:49. > :12:54.because we must be able to act on these officers. Until they complete
:12:55. > :12:58.that we cannot know who they are. Some of the victims of child
:12:59. > :13:03.grooming in Rotherham have got justice. 12 women whose children
:13:04. > :13:07.were sexually abused by the gang put themselves forward to be witnesses
:13:08. > :13:12.and expose what was going on in the town. We can hear from one of them
:13:13. > :13:24.who we cannot identify for legal reasons. Her words are performed by
:13:25. > :13:31.an actress. I first met him when I was about 11.
:13:32. > :13:38.It was just before I went into care. I used to hang around. He got to
:13:39. > :13:45.know where I was. He started asking for sex. I told him I did not want
:13:46. > :13:49.to do it. He used to get nasty, dragging me by my here or pieces of
:13:50. > :13:54.clothing into the churchyard. I used to get punched, kicked, he did what
:13:55. > :14:02.he wanted until I did what he wanted. To stop me getting hurt I
:14:03. > :14:07.did as he pleased. After so long he got his brother and friends
:14:08. > :14:11.involved. We had to do one thing with him and straight after with his
:14:12. > :14:21.brother and between three or four having to do what they wanted. Wendy
:14:22. > :14:27.one of them had climbed up a drainpipe, and he got in, he was in
:14:28. > :14:30.my room. I was pleading him to leave my room because I would get into
:14:31. > :14:35.trouble and he said he would only leave if I came out with him. I
:14:36. > :14:41.ended up going out with him to get him out my room. I did not want to
:14:42. > :14:45.have sex. I was just getting pushed, my head banged into a wall, my hair
:14:46. > :14:53.was being ripped out. I thought I was going to end up, I thought they
:14:54. > :15:03.would end up killing me. Where did the grooming take place and how wide
:15:04. > :15:08.was the web operated? These survivors were essentially
:15:09. > :15:12.traded like currency, these teenage girls lost their adolescence. The
:15:13. > :15:16.abuse did not just a place in Rotherham, it was also trafficked
:15:17. > :15:21.out to Sheffield. One victim spoke about being taken to the north-west
:15:22. > :15:31.and abused and another said she was put in a car and taken to London for
:15:32. > :15:36.sex. Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras
:15:37. > :15:44.Hussain ruled Rotherham. According to evidence heard during the trial.
:15:45. > :15:50.Their associates, Qurban Ali, and Shelley Davis, helped facilitate the
:15:51. > :15:54.abuse. They were allowed a free card to do what they wanted. One victim
:15:55. > :16:01.said she came from a happy home until she met Basharat Hussain at
:16:02. > :16:07.14. She later described being forced into sex on her 16th birthday at a
:16:08. > :16:12.disgusting flat. Much of the abuse took place around Rotherham, some in
:16:13. > :16:17.Sheffield. On another occasion the same woman talked about how she was
:16:18. > :16:22.blindfolded, tied up and had petrol poured on her feet while hearing
:16:23. > :16:31.other people nearby having sex. She said...
:16:32. > :16:39.Karen MacGregor ran a Hansel and Gretel style house. Vulnerable girls
:16:40. > :16:42.were offered clothing and a roof over their heads and in return would
:16:43. > :16:49.have to pay their way and were pimped out for sex. One of the
:16:50. > :16:53.victims was 12. When her mother discovered school exercise books
:16:54. > :16:58.hidden in a kitchen cupboard. Detailing sexual activity with men
:16:59. > :17:07.of Pakistani heritage. They were abused and churchyards, lock-up
:17:08. > :17:10.garages and even public spaces. One girl was taken to Blackpool on the
:17:11. > :17:14.pretext of delivering a parcel and was kept in a room above a
:17:15. > :17:21.restaurant and made to have sex with men on a daily basis over several
:17:22. > :17:26.months. The victims, mostly in their 30s now, the they have lived under
:17:27. > :17:30.the cloud of a scandal for too long wondering if justice would ever be
:17:31. > :17:36.done. With the perpetrator is facing jail their long wait is finally over
:17:37. > :17:46.Over tonight. Rotherham Council are asking that anybody who feels they
:17:47. > :17:50.may have been the victim of child exploitation to come forward, they
:17:51. > :17:57.say concerns will be taken seriously and lessons have been learned.
:17:58. > :18:04.We are joined by someone from the Ramadan foundation. You are a
:18:05. > :18:08.distant relative of the three men. It has been a long-term coming.
:18:09. > :18:14.These girls have been raped and sexually exploited with the
:18:15. > :18:19.laboratory is refusing to look at the fact that their police officers
:18:20. > :18:26.light down these girls that finally we have seen justice so I am happy
:18:27. > :18:30.for them. I hope this gives them the closure they need to rebuild our
:18:31. > :18:35.life. At the centre of this has been the Pakistani community in
:18:36. > :18:39.Rotherham. How have they reacted? When the report came out I was at a
:18:40. > :18:47.protest called by the Pakistani community against grooming. I was
:18:48. > :18:52.there last week. Delivering a training course around child sexual
:18:53. > :18:55.exploitation. There is overrepresented in of Pakistani men
:18:56. > :19:00.get involved in these crimes and we have to deal with this because if we
:19:01. > :19:04.do not... I do not see any difference between my daughters and
:19:05. > :19:10.the girls who were abused and we must confront it. What can you do?
:19:11. > :19:17.We need to be more vocal. There needs to be more training of the
:19:18. > :19:21.police. We should not differentiate between a Pakistani girl being
:19:22. > :19:24.abused and a white girl being abused and in this case it was the white
:19:25. > :19:29.girls being abused or that of the form of racism. This case would
:19:30. > :19:32.have come to court if it was not for have come to court if it was not for
:19:33. > :19:43.Andrew Norfolk who wrote his first story five years ago.
:19:44. > :19:50.I received over 200 confidential documents and there was a culture
:19:51. > :19:55.laid showed for the decade what had been going on, the names of dozens
:19:56. > :20:01.of girls, the names of the men who were abusing them, the places they
:20:02. > :20:06.were being taken. The evidence was there in the internal police report,
:20:07. > :20:11.social services documents. It has been going on for this long and you
:20:12. > :20:14.knew about it and did nothing. When we publish that story I was
:20:15. > :20:20.convinced there would be an outcry that would immediately lead to all
:20:21. > :20:26.sorts of inquiries. Were you met with a brick wall every time you try
:20:27. > :20:30.to find out? The council tried to get a High Court injunction against
:20:31. > :20:38.us. The police tried to prevent us from publishing the story. Rotherham
:20:39. > :20:43.Council tried to get a criminal investigation launched into who was
:20:44. > :20:50.supplying me with documents. In August 2013I did what I have never
:20:51. > :20:56.done in 26 years, we named a man, Arshid Hussain, who be accused of
:20:57. > :21:03.being a serial abuser of young girls, a man who had not been
:21:04. > :21:06.arrested. To have the evidence to persuade our lawyers that it was
:21:07. > :21:13.safe to do that meant that that evidence was overwhelming. Rotherham
:21:14. > :21:20.Council bowed to the pressure. They commissioned an independent inquiry
:21:21. > :21:24.to understand what had happened. That made global headlines because
:21:25. > :21:31.1400 girls had been abused over 13 years. As justice being done? Some
:21:32. > :21:35.of them never believe this day would come when they would see charges
:21:36. > :21:40.brought against the men who ruined their childhood. Then have the
:21:41. > :21:44.chance to land in court until a jury what had happened to them and
:21:45. > :21:53.critically to be believed and the jury believed those accounts.
:21:54. > :22:00.Remarkable investigative journalism. We are saying goodbye to the BBC
:22:01. > :22:02.News Channel. A special programme you have been watching from our
:22:03. > :22:03.colleagues in