No more investigations into Rotherham child abuse scandal
An inquiry into child sexual abuse in Rotherham will not start any new investigations from next year.
Operation Stovewood, which began in 2014, was set up by the National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate sexual exploitation in the town which took place between 1997 and 2013.
The NCA says it is confident it has done "all we realistically can" to identify victims after more than 1,100 survivors had been contacted - almost all girls.
Rotherham abuse survivor Sammy Woodhouse was 14-years-old when she was groomed and abused. She was also exploited to commit crime.
She fell pregnant at the age of 15, and made her first statement to the police after two years.
Ms Woodhouse said: "I think what's really important is that if the National Crime Agency are handing to South Yorkshire Police then that door gets left open so if somebody does want to come forward and give evidence or information then that's allowed to happen."
The agency insisted it was not "walking away" as it announced that, from January, new allegations will be handled by South Yorkshire Police instead.
It also stressed it will continue to pursue its ongoing investigations in the town, which are expected to take until 2027 to go through the criminal justice system.
Ms Woodhouse added that some victims won't have come forward yet as their abuser may still be in their lives.
Operation Stovewood was set up in the wake of the Jay Report, which sent a shockwave across the nation in 2014 when it found that at least 1,400 girls were abused, trafficked and groomed by gangs of men of mainly Pakistani heritage in the town between those years.
The NCA says it is the UK's biggest investigation into child abuse.
The report by Professor Alexis Jay – who is now chairing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – prompted a swathe of resignations and further inquiries after it emerged how police, social workers and other agencies had done little to tackle the issue.
NCA Stovewood Head of Investigations Philip Marshall said on Tuesday: "During the course of the last nine years, we have identified more than 1,100 victims and made contact with as many of those as possible.
"Some, for reasons that are entirely understandable, have decided not to engage with us. We respect their decisions.
"We are now confident that we have done all we realistically can to identify those individuals who may have been victims during the Stovewood time period.
"As a result, from the start of 2024, the NCA will no longer open any new investigations, and any new allegations will be investigated by South Yorkshire Police."
Mr Marshall continued: "This does not mean we are walking away. We will continue to investigate in the cases we have already opened, and victims should know we will continue to treat them as a priority.
"We remain determined to seek justice for as many victims as possible and we will continue to work with partners including the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to bring as many offenders to justice as we can.
"Both the NCA and South Yorkshire Police are determined this process should be as seamless as possible, and we’re confident that should anyone new come forward after January 1 they will still be supported in exactly the same way."
Last week Neil Cawton, 68, from Rawmarsh, South Yorkshire, became the 26th person convicted since Stovewood began. Cawton was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of nine separate child sex abuse offences committed against four victims between 2006 and 2012.
The NCA said it remains committed to seeing its current investigations through to the end of the criminal justice process, which is anticipated to continue into 2027.
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