Two former police officers have been arrested after being accused of misconduct in public office and sexually abusing children in an English town where a Muslim child grooming gang operated for over a decade. The ex-officers, who had not been named as of the time of publication, have been taken into custody amid an investigation into child sexual exploitation in the rape gang hotspot of Rotherham, England.
The arrests follow complaints from four individuals who allege they were victims of abuse connected to two ex-South Yorkshire Police constables. The offenses reportedly occurred during both on-duty and off-duty periods.
The case is part of Operation Linden, an extensive inquiry launched after a 2014 report uncovered systemic child abuse in Rotherham. The report, by Professor Alexis Jay, identified that at least 1,400 children fell victim to abuse, mainly by Pakistani heritage men, from 1997 to 2013.
The arrest of the two former officers comes as Asghar Bostan, a convicted grooming gang rapist who operated in Rotherham, may receive parole despite violating his license conditions. Bostan, sentenced to nine years in prison in 2018, was released just four years later on parole but was returned to prison last year when he was spotted near the home of one of his victims.
Many are putting pressure on Britain’s ruling Labour Party to launch a national inquiry into grooming gang activity and the officials’ role in covering it up across the country.
Earlier this month, the government agreed to local inquiries in five locations, with a budget of just over $12 million. However, rape gangs are known to have operated in around 50 towns and cities at least. Moreover, there are concerns that local inquiries commissioned by the same local authorities that turned a blind eye to the gangs’ activities will not be sufficiently aggressive in identifying wrongdoers.
