Ex-chief faces Rotherham sex abuse questions

Rotherham council’s former top officer is to be questioned by his current boss over what he knew about the town’s sex abuse scandal.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said he would speak to Ged Fitzgerald, Rotherham’s chief executive from 2001 to 2003 and now in the same role in the Merseyside city, about what he knew about a Home Office report that revealed widespread sexual abuse of under-age girls.

Professor Alexis Jay’s report on the abuse scandal said the reaction of senior police and council figures to Angie Heal’s critical 2003 report “led to suspicions of collusion and cover-up”, with the researcher accused of exaggerating her findings.

In a statement, Mr Anderson said: “I note and am concerned that the Jay Report criticises Rotherham council for not taking the earlier Heal Report (often referred to as the Home Office Report) seriously, and will discuss these matters with Mr Fitzgerald as soon as possible.

” I will be seeking clarification as to whether he was aware of the Heal Report.

He backed calls for a public inquiry into the scandal, which saw more than 1,400 children abused from 1997 to 2013.