Rotherham CSA investigations head towards their conclusion

Our operation looking into South Yorkshire Police’s (SYP) response to non-recent allegations of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Rotherham is nearing closure.

Of the 91 independent investigations that form part of Operation Linden, 64 investigations – more than 70 per cent – are now complete. The next step is for us to share all of the completed investigation reports with SYP for their comment.

The 27 ongoing investigations include the investigation we began last July into allegations that senior officers failed in their statutory duty to protect children between 1999 and 2011.

We continue to analyse the evidence we have gathered so far about the actions carried out by the senior command team, after allegations they received reports highlighting CSA was being carried out in Rotherham. At this stage, we haven’t served any current or former officers with notices that their conduct is under investigation, and our enquiries continue.

IOPC Director for Major Investigations Steve Noonan said:

“We are pleased that Operation Linden continues to make good progress. This operation is unprecedented in terms of size, scope and sensitivity and we still continue to receive referrals of complaints made by survivors. I would like to thank all those involved, especially the survivors of the horrific abuse they suffered, for their patience and understanding while we finalise our investigations.

“To protect the integrity of this operation, and due to its sensitivities, we will not provide ongoing comment about the progress of each individual investigation, or any potential conduct matters. However, the people directly affected by our investigations are kept regularly updated. At the appropriate time, we will produce an over-arching report that pulls together all of the findings, outcomes and learning from Operation Linden.

“Our ultimate aim is to ensure that all those affected can be confident that their complaints have been comprehensively investigated, and for South Yorkshire Police and indeed all forces across the country to learn from our findings.”

Operation Linden is the second largest independent investigation ever conducted by the IOPC, the largest being the Hillsborough investigation.

Currently 13 officers remain under investigation, however this figure will continue to fluctuate as we progress our investigations.

The evidence being compiled and reviewed by the Operation Linden team dates back as far as the early 1990s and so far, the team has:

• reviewed 19,345 documents
• logged 1,334 exhibits, and
• processed 838 statements.