More than 1,400 children were abused over a 16 year period in the Rotherham area because police and local government officials failed to stop it. The aftershock from the Jay Report that revealed damning revelations of catastrophic failures on the part of the authorities in dealing with and managing a child abuse scandal on an unimaginable scale is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Following several key resignations, top politicians, including the Prime Minister himself, have been calling for PCC Shaun Wright to resign as the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner – but he has been digging his heels in and refusing to leave his post.
Media sources have now confirmed that he has finally resigned.
In a story from The Guardian it has been confirmed that Shaun Wright has stepped down as South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner for his part in the Rotherham Child Abuse Scandal. The Jay Report brought to light significant and catastrophic failures on both the part of the police and local services in stopping children from being subjected to trafficking, physical abuse, intimidation, and rape by organised gangs.
Shaun Wright was in charge of Children’s Services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010 – at the height of the abuse period – and is now seemingly accepting responsibility for his part in the vast failures. In a meeting with the home affairs select committee, evidence given by Wright about having no extensive knowledge of what was going on was deemed “unconvincing.”
The Guardian reports that Mr Wright in a statement confirmed that the media attention surrounding his involvement and the calls for his resignation were “detracting from the important issue – the 1,400 victims outlined in the report”.
He went on to say the following:
“With this in mind, I feel it is now right to step down from the position of police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire, for the sake of those victims, for the sake of the public of South Yorkshire and to ensure that the important issues outlined in the report about tackling child sexual exploitation can be discussed and considered in full without distraction.”
