Drew Review: South Yorkshire Police 'did not care', says abuse victim

A victim of child sexual exploitation in Sheffield has called for police officers to face prosecution saying South Yorkshire Police "did not care" she was being abused.

The woman, now in her 20s, was abused for three years from the age of 13.

She told the BBC that police officers knew "everything" but failed to act.

She said she lost faith in the force to such an extent that she chose not to report the fact many years later that she had been raped.

"It was awful, the police made me feel like I wasn't a victim.

"It felt like I wasn't a priority to them, so I stopped going to them after a while."

'They knew everything'

On one occasion she said officers had found her in bed with one of her abusers but did nothing but take her home.

"They knew everything that was going off," she said. "They weren't blind to any of it. They knew what was going on.

"[They] knew these men and knew what they were doing [but] they didn't even bother to question them and why we were in their homes."

Rachel's story

Another victim is 35-year-old Rachel, not her real name, who was just 11 years old when she was abused in Rotherham.

She claims that on one occasion police officers looked on as she and another girl were attacked.

"We were getting beaten up and the police were watching," she said. "They were in the car behind but didn't stop him.

"He beat the girl that badly she went to hospital. The police said, 'We know what's happening, we were watching him, collecting evidence', but said they they didn't want to blow their operation.

"We said, 'What's more important, your operation or us?', and they said their operation was."

She went on to say she believed her abuser "had a hold over the police" after saying she saw him pass a brown envelope to an officer in a car park at Rotherham's Clifton park.

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The Drew Review in numbers

The first woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that on one occasion she went to a police station to give a statement with her mother.

"They did the whole interview, took my clothes and we heard nothing from them," she said.

"They didn't phone to say, 'sorry we couldn't find the guy', or 'sorry, there's not enough evidence', they just didn't bother to contact us at all."

'Lose faith'

Calling for officers to face criminal charges, she said: "They don't take it seriously. They [treat] other crimes like drugs a lot more importantly than a young child getting sexually exploited.

"They shouldn't be in that line of work if they have no care for these people - the whole point of their job is to care, and they didn't care, and that is the problem.

"I think the police should be prosecuted or should lose their jobs because they didn't do their jobs. It's not right that they knew what was going on and they stood by and let it happen.

"The abuse stays with you for the rest of your life; it becomes a part of you and your personality.

"It really does scar that person, and then, not getting justice, you lose faith in everyone, you lose faith in the police."

The BBC asked South Yorkshire Police for its response to the women's comments and the force said tackling child sexual exploitation was an "absolute priority".

A spokesman said it was also cooperating with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) where allegations had been made against officers involved in the issue of child sexual exploitation.