THE shocking findings revealed today of an independent Serious Case Review into Child Sexual Exploitation in Oxfordshire, found that Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire Social Services made serious errors in failing to protect an estimated 300 young girls from sexual abuse, prostitution and trafficking, many of them in the Care system. Today, Sarah Thornton, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, issued the following statement:
“We have contributed fully to the review and accept its findings. The independent review highlighted that agencies including Thames Valley Police could have identified the exploitation between 2004 and 2010 earlier than it did and many errors were made.
“The review acknowledges that we have been willing to learn and change. We have examined what went wrong and we are doing all that we can to put things right.
“After the 2013 trial, I personally apologised to the victims and their families for not identifying the systematic nature of the abuse sooner, that we were too reliant on victims supporting criminal proceedings and that it took too long to bring the offenders to justice.
“I want to reiterate that apology today. The Force has made significant progress in the way we prevent, identify, disrupt and investigate Child Sexual Exploitation. Recent Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary inspections have recognised us for our track record in addressing so-called ‘hidden crimes’.
“Since the 2011 financial year, we have invested £3.5m in dedicated resources to tackle this kind of exploitation. In addition one of our Major Crime Teams, who have traditionally investigated murders are now entirely focused on Child Sexual Exploitation investigations.
AGENCIES NOW WORKING TOGETHER
“In Oxfordshire, we have a dedicated unit, the Kingfisher team, where police officers, social workers and health and education professionals sit side by side in order to safeguard children from Child Sexual Exploitation. The success of the Kingfisher team has been recognised as best practice nationally by winning a number of awards including the Alarm Award 2014 for People Risk, the Municipal Journal Award 2014 for Best Children’s Services and the Thames Valley Shrievalty Award 2015.
“There has been a huge emphasis on training frontline officers and staff in order for us to better prevent, identify, disrupt and investigate Child Sexual Exploitation. All frontline officers and staff, including PCSOs, constables and sergeants, have been attending mandatory training since 2013.
“We continue to work with one of the six victims from Operation Bullfinch to deliver training to frontline officers and new detectives and inspectors in order for us to better identify potential victims and suspects. She talks about her experiences with the police in order for us to learn from mistakes made prior to 2011.
“The independent review found that ‘Operation Bullfinch and subsequent prosecutions have shown concerted and vigorous action’.
“Since the 2013 trial at the Old Bailey, we have successfully charged 47 offenders in connection with 201 Child Sexual Exploitation offences and will continue to do so.
SHAME
“We are ashamed of the shortcomings identified in this report and we are determined to do all we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
“Safeguarding and protecting vulnerable children and robustly and vigorously investigating those who prey on them, is the responsibility of every officer and member of staff in Thames Valley Police.”
The statement containing Sarah Thornton’s apology, went on:
LOOKING OUT FOR THE SIGNS OF ABUSE
“Across the Thames Valley more than 100,000 school pupils have been taught about child sexual exploitation. In addition, more than 600 businesses, including pubs, fast food outlets and hotels, have also been trained to look out for the signs of abuse. Thames Valley Police also continues to work with one of the six victims from Operation Bullfinch to deliver face to face training. She has worked with more than 200 new detectives, sergeants and inspectors to talk about her experiences with the police.
“The victim, who was known as Girl 1 during the trial at the Old Bailey, said: “I have been working with the police to deliver training sessions on CSE and sharing my experiences. I feel young people are finally being seen as victims and not simply nuisances who make ‘bad life choices’. I had a newly promoted sergeant apologise to me for all the young people they felt they had let down in the past and that was very touching. I feel that Thames Valley Police has failed me so terribly in the past. However, they have apologised for this and not made excuses about it.” ”
If you think you have been a victim of sexual abuse, or are worried about someone, please phone 101, quoting URN 165 18/2/15.
For further information and advice on CSE click here: LINK
THE COUNTY COUNCIL’S RESPONSE
Jim Leivers, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director for Children, Education and Families, said: “Like the whole community we are horrified at what happened in Oxford. We fully accept that we made many mistakes and missed opportunities to stop the abuse.
“After the trial, the council apologised to the girls for not stopping their abuse sooner, and I do so unreservedly again today. They suffered dreadfully at the hands of these violent men, and despite many attempts we failed to keep them safe while they were in our care. Since then we have been determined to make improvements and have worked hard to ensure that everything possible is done to make children safer in Oxfordshire. We are totally committed to tackling this abuse and the county council has already implemented all the recommendations for improvement, which the report acknowledges.
“The report describes ‘concerted and vigorous action’ by all agencies to tackle child sexual exploitation and concludes: “Oxfordshire has made very significant progress from the time in 2011 it was finally realised there was a pattern of organised child sexual exploitation (CSE) and multiple victims”.
