Former police chief 'unaware of abuse' of 1,400 children in Rotherham

A former police chief has said he was completely unaware of the systematic sexual exploitation of children taking place in Rotherham during his time in charge of the force.

Mike Hedges, who was the chief constable of South Yorkshire police from 1998 to 2004, said that the issue was never brought to his attention.

“When I first saw this on the news, that was the first inkling that I had that there had been systematic abuse of this nature taking part in Rotherham,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“Certainly I have no recollection of this coming to the notice of my senior command team during my time in the force.”

A report last month by Professor Alexis Jay concluded that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the town over a 16-year period.

However Mr Hedges said he had no recollection of receiving letters which were said to have been sent to him in 2001 and 2003 raising concerns about the issue and he rejected suggestions that he had been incompetent.

“Incompetence suggests that there was a total disinterest or knowledge that was in my hands that I didn’t deal with properly. My recollection is I cannot recall either the letters or this allegation of widespread abuse that took place in Rotherham coming to my notice,” he said.

“To my recollection, nothing of that nature was brought to me either by my commander or by the other agencies that had a number of different fora in which they could have raised these issues with me.”

Nevertheless, he accepted that he bore some responsibility for what happened in Rotherham during his time in charge of the force.

“Of course I do. I was the chief constable. It was happening when I was there so of course I feel most uncomfortable and disappointed that we didn’t pick up these signals and run with them,” he said.