What Elon Musk missed when he tweeted my Rotherham grooming gang story: Chris Burn

Having covered the Rotherham abuse scandal as a reporter for years prior to moving into my current role on The Yorkshire Post business desk, I have been closely following the debate about whether there should be a new inquiry into grooming gangs.

But my interest in the topic took an unexpected turn this weekend when Elon Musk posted a screenshot of one of my stories on the issue – about a ‘no arrest’ deal given to Rotherham grooming gang leader Arshid Hussain – to his 212 million followers on X.

Mr Musk had picked up on a post by an account called Viségrad 24, one of the main sources of information that the X owner and world’s richest man has been turning to for information about UK grooming cases.

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Mr Musk amplified the post by tweeting ‘Wow’, with both his post and the original one now having been seen over 38 million times each as a result.

Elon Musk has been highlighting stories about the Rotherham abuse scandal on X. Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA WireElon Musk has been highlighting stories about the Rotherham abuse scandal on X. Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire
Elon Musk has been highlighting stories about the Rotherham abuse scandal on X. Picture: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire

However, the screengrab of the story’s headline does not contain an important piece of information still visible on the real webpage – the date that it was written. Its exclusion gives the impression to the casual reader that this is a new development; as is apparent from the huge number of responses to both posts assuming that to be the case.

In fact, not only was the date of publication two-and-a-half years ago in June 2022 but the events it relate to now date back 25 years.

I contacted Viségrad 24 for comment and received a reply that it wasn’t them who had altered the screenshot and that it “had been circulating here [on] X in that exact form”.

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Of course time does not fade the appalling nature of what happened and in my view the detailed context of what transpired is actually more shocking than the undated snapshot that has been highlighted. But I believe providing accurate context is vital given the ongoing attempts from many quarters to tie the grooming scandal to current politicians and police officers.

The incident involving Hussain “handing over” a pregnant 14-year-old he had abducted to police at a petrol station in exchange for not being arrested or facing any police action happened in 2000.

Back in 2013, a South Yorkshire Police investigation found ‘no evidence to substantiate the claims after it was originally reported in The Times following the brave victim Sammy Woodhouse coming forward with her story.

But after the devastating Alexis Jay report into Rotherham’s CSE scandal in 2014 finally kickstarted effective police investigations into the likes of Hussain and his associates, he was jailed for 35 years in 2016. One of the 23 charges he was found guilty of included abduction in regard to this incident, which involved a now-deceased police officer called PC Hassan Ali.

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The three-month court case against Hussain and his associates also heard further shocking allegations about collusion between police officers and the gang - with victims alleging officers had passed information and drugs to the grooming ring he headed.

Such corruption allegations formed part of the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s investigation into SYP’s handling of Rotherham. That investigation went on for six years and had £6m spent on it but proved a major letdown for victims.

The IOPC said it didn’t believe it had uncovered evidence of corruption. While 14 officers were found to have a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct, no one lost their job. In fact, seven officers were allowed to retire before they could face misconduct hearings.

The IOPC did uphold Ms Woodhouse’s complaint about the no arrest deal – leading to my story in 2022 which has just caught the attention of Elon Musk.

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The way the story has been highlighted again this weekend is for me a wider microcosm of what is happening with the calls for a national grooming gangs inquiry – with genuinely shocking information being presented in not an entirely straight way to make a political point.

The facts are terrible enough; they don’t need exaggeration or misrepresentation.

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