Rotherham child sexual abuse: misconduct officer given warning

The disciplinary panel heard Det Con Hampshire had 23 years' police service

A detective who failed to properly investigate claims a girl had been raped by multiple men in Rotherham has avoided being sacked.

Det Con Ian Hampshire was issued with a final written warning on Tuesday after he admitted gross misconduct.

A disciplinary panel said he should not be held accountable for the "systemic failings of South Yorkshire Police".

The hearing is understood to be the first relating to the Rotherham child sexual exploitation (CSE) scandal.

Panel chairman Simon Mallett said "it would be wrong" to make Det Con Hampshire "personally accountable for the systemic failings of the force".

In 2014, the Jay Report detailed how at least 1,400 children were raped, trafficked and abused in the town between 1997 and 2013.

It criticised the lack of action by police and social workers and provoked a wave of resignations and inquiries.

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The panel heard the girl, who was about 16 at the time, made a series of rape complaints to officers in May 2007.

Allegations against Det Con Hampshire related to further claims she made after he took over the case.

These included a claim she was raped by a number of men the night before she was due to be interviewed by the detective and a colleague.

While Det Con Hampshire made "good, positive first steps", the hearing was told, he admitted he later failed to progress the investigation and keep the teenager informed.

Jason Pitter QC, for Det Con Hampshire, argued his failings had "to be considered in the context of systemic failings within South Yorkshire Police at the relevant time".

Mr Mallett said the panel accepted the detective was "one officer in a unit that seriously failed to protect the most vulnerable".

But, he said, Det Con Hampshire's leaders and supervisors "bore considerably more responsibility" for the overall failings.

South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said the force had taken "huge strides in understanding and investigating CSE" since the Jay Report was published.

An inquiry into the scandal by the Independent Office for Police Conduct has yet to be published.