GMP chief says ‘we messed up’ as force fails to take action against officers involved in Rochdale failures

The highest ranking man at Greater Manchester Police says the force knows it ‘messed up’ on historic cases of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale. GMP chief constable Stephen Watson claims that the force has apologised for the failings identified in the report into the force’s handling of child exploitation in Rochdale between 2004 and 2012.

However, at a press conference this morning (January 15), former detective turned child sex abuse campaigner Maggie Oliver said the failures identified in the report are still happening today. The GMP whistleblower said accountability is ‘critically important’ for victims, but no one involved has faced any consequences so far.

Speaking to the M.E.N. after the press conference, Mr Watson said that 13 officers involved in Operation Span – which led to some convictions in 2012 but was described in the report as ‘relatively limited’ – were referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commissioner. Seven of those officers received ‘managerial advice’ as a result.

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Six officers were found to have no case to answer, while one officer who was found to have a case to answer had already retired. Mr Watson confirmed that no criminal culpability has been found of behalf of any police officer.

He said: “It isn’t that we haven’t looked at the disciplinary aspects of this already. However, we always revisit our findings and our submissions and in light of this report, our professional standards department as we speak are going through this report afresh to see if there are any grounds to re-refer or to make fresh referrals or to revisit some of that which we have previously decided.

“It isn’t ultimately our decision hence we put these issues to the Independent Office of Police Complaints. They make the determination as to culpability.”

GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson (Image: ABNM Photography)

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he would listen and look into Maggie Oliver’s claims that the failures identified in the report are still happening today. He criticised those who refused to give evidence to the inquiry.

He has now written to the Home Secretary calling for powers to compel officers – including those who have retired or moved to other police forces – to give evidence. The Mayor said: “I don’t think it is acceptable that anybody paid by the public purse either now or in the past says that they are not prepared to give evidence to a review of this kind.”

The GMP whistleblower, who set up the Maggie Oliver Foundation to support victims of child sexual exploitation, told the M.E.N. that no one has been held to account so far, despite this being ‘critically important’ for victims. She said: “Every victim in this country that we speak to at the foundation wants somebody to be held accountable.

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“This report makes it very clear that these are systemic failures that lie at the feet of individuals who have made those decisions not to investigate, not to prosecute, close down live investigations, to ring-fence the number of victims that are allowed to have their abusers prosecuted. That is shocking.

“Since when did we say as a country that we’re going to pick and choose which rapist is going to be prosecuted. All the ones who were allowed to go unchallenged will still be abusing children. The law is not there to select who is a good victim and who is a bad victim.

“It is there to protect all children. And, I’m sorry, that is where so many of these problems lie.”

What the report found

Today’s report – authored by Malcolm Newsam, a renowned child care expert, and Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent with Cambridgeshire Police – focused on the sexual exploitation of children in Rochdale between 2004 and 2012. It specifically considers the allegations set out by Sara Rowbotham, now a councillor who was awarded an MBE after exposing the child sex ring, and Ms Oliver.

The review team found ‘compelling evidence’ of ‘widespread organised sexual exploitation’ of children in the town between 2004 and 2012. The report identified ‘at least’ 96 individuals ‘who potentially’ posed a risk to children over the period, but chillingly they are described as being ‘only a proportion’ of those involved in CSE’ across the town.

The report’s authors said they found ‘successive’ police operations ‘failed to tackle the widespread exploitation of children by these men’. Read the findings in full here.