Rotherham slowly finding its feet again after child sex scandal

IT’S market day and even though it’s a glum, chilly day the outdoor stalls are doing a steady trade.

Beneath the rows of purple and yellow gazebos fluttering in the breeze on Effingham Street you’ll find everything from socks and pillows to flowers and second-hand dvds.

Rotherham has been a market town since around the time that the Magna Carta was sealed and it’s a tradition that continues today. So, too, is the town’s “do it yourself” attitude. Up the hill at the top of nearby High Street a multi-million pound redevelopment is underway with many historic and listed buildings being refurbished. It’s being led by local business people and independent shop owners.

The area has drawn praise from Mary Portas who was impressed by the quality of shops here – which includes an Italian deli, antiques shop and the Makers Emporium, home to a mix of crafts people, artists and designers. As someone said to me, you wouldn’t think this was Rotherham.

But though it’s fair to say Rotherham might not have the well-heeled image of some other market towns that spring to mind, it still comes from a proud working class tradition.

However, in the past few years it has had to confront arguably the darkest chapter in its long history. The South Yorkshire town found itself at the centre of a national scandal after a report by Professor Alexis Jay published in 2014, revealed the shocking scale of child grooming in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, with 1,400 children abused as local authorities failed to tackle the problem.

It caused shock and outrage and tarnished the town’s image. It’s a story that has refused to go away as people, understandably, have sought to find out how and why the perpetrators were able to get away with such wicked crimes undetected for so long.

Last month’s court case that saw six people jailed for a total of 102 years for their involvement in a child sex grooming ring was the latest tentative step on the long road to recovery.

So, too, is a conference held in Leeds today where Rotherham abuse survivors will share their harrowing stories alongside guest speakers including Prof Jay and Andrew Norfolk, the Times and former Yorkshire Post journalist, who brought the story to national attention.

For the victims, their ordeal will remain with them for the rest of their lives. The town has suffered, too. But what impact has the scandal had?

Katie Shaw, who lives in nearby Wath, has been running her wool stall in the market for the past two years. She believes the atmosphere has calmed down. “When the story first came out people were shocked and angry, but you don’t really hear people talking about it much now,” she says. Nevertheless, she says Rotherham has suffered. “We got a bad rap and I think the Asian community did, too.”

Walking around Rotherham town centre you don’t sense an obvious undercurrent of racial tension. White stall holders mingle happily with their Asian counterparts as people get on with their lives.

The town’s Labour MP Sarah Champion has been a tireless and eloquent ambassador for Rotherham and is hopeful they are through the worst of it. “There’s relief at the verdict and the length of the sentences,” she says. “I think we have hit bottom and we’re starting to come back up.”

However, she admits there is still some unease in the town. “The biggest concern for me is the level of hate crime going on.” She says this has even seeped down into the school playground. “Asian families have told me stories of their children coming back home from primary school in tears because they have been called a ‘paedo’ or a ‘groomer’ by other children.”

There have been other shocking incidents. Last month, an Asian man had part of his finger sliced off with a meat cleaver during an alleged racist attack at a Rotherham petrol station. This follows the racist killing last summer of an 81 year-old pensioner as he walked to his mosque in the town, for which a man was later jailed for life.

Zlakha Ahmed, chief executive of Apna Haq, a domestic violence support service, says the sense of relief following the recent court case is tempered by what she believes is an increase in racially-motivated abuse.

“We’re getting at least one woman a week coming to us reporting that they have been racially abused verbally, or had stones thrown at them or had their scarf pulled,” she says. “I’d say it’s getting worse. In the past we haven’t seen such regular occurrences.”

Ahmed warns if this isn’t tackled now it will only worsen but claims that part of the problem surrounding child sexual exploitation (CSE) is the perception that it’s a racist issue when she says it isn’t.

“Abuse happens to girls from every community. But the focus has all been on Rotherham and the Asian community and the idea that we all knew about it and kept quiet and that we are somehow complicit. This has given the far right groups ammunition to come here and feel they can use the town as a scapegoat,” she says. “We need to come together and work hard as a community because the majority of people here are good.”

Local businessman Chris Hamby, who has helped lead the High Street transformation, says there was disbelief throughout the town when the abuse scandal first emerged. “I know a lot of Asian business people and they were as shocked as everybody else.”

He says the scandal was a “kick in the teeth” for the town and though he believes the town is back on its feet he’s concerned about the long-term impact.

“My worry is that places get associated with certain words. When people talk about Aberfan or Lockerbie they think of what happened there and I wouldn’t want Rotherham to get branded ‘paedophile town’, because it’s not true.”

Some people have expressed concerns about right-wing groups like the EDL trying to target Rotherham by holding weekend rallies, which could frighten shoppers away. “Perhaps the right wing groups think they could build on the tension, but that tension isn’t here in my opinion,” says Hamby.

However, he understands people’s concerns. “The difficulty for smaller businesses is you can manage if it’s one Saturday but if it becomes bi-monthly then people begin to stay away.”

For all its recent troubles, though, this isn’t a town without optimism. Last year, Rotherham won ‘best town centre’ at the British High Street Awards and Hamby says the local council and shop owners are working together to help boost the town centre.

“Rotherham is a resilient place and people here are used to struggling through adversity,” he says. “Footfall is going up and we’re seeing shoppers coming back.

“If it hadn’t been for this story and the recession I think we’d be flying. But people here are pulling together... Rotherham will fight back.”

Police response to racial tension concerns

Chief Superintendent Jason Harwin, the Commander for Rotherham’s Local Policing Unit, said hate crime of any form would not be tolerated.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “While racially motivated recorded crimes in Rotherham are lower than this time last year, we are aware that this is an under-reported issue. This is something we are addressing by working closely with third party reporting centres and exploring how we can improve our response to this crime.

“Following the conclusion of the recent high-profile trial, there was a possibility that community tensions could increase. We have received a number of reports of crimes that appear to be racially motivated and they are being investigated as such.”