"Police failed to properly investigate allegations of sexual abuse in Nottinghamshire children's homes, a former senior social worker has said. More than 100 complaints of abuse have been made since investigations began in 2010. But, the social worker said reports she made in the 1990s were not believed because of the children's backgrounds."
"Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said: "Historically, victims haven't been listened to enough." Mr Tipping, who was himself a social worker in Nottinghamshire in the 1970s, was interviewed as a witness in December. "
"Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, the former social worker - who wished to remain anonymous - said she made three complaints as recently as the early 2000s after children disclosed sexual abuse to her. "The difficulty that we had was that the residential staff would deny it. They would provide alibis for each other," she said. "The children or the young people: where were they going to go? Even if we moved them... the staff moved around."...
"The investigation has centred around the now-closed Beechwood care home in Mapperley but has since widened to include 12 others across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The force said it was "one of the largest" criminal investigations it had ever undertaken with more than 100 victims and potentially "more than 150 abusers".
Supt Helen Chamberlain, head of public protection, denied police were overwhelmed by the scale of the inquiry. "What's emerging today is a very complex scenario where we have a number of allegations made by over 100 people quite often more than 30 years on," she told Radio 4. "Much of the information recorded at the time has been destroyed and some suspects have died."...
"In a joint statement, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, which ran Beechwood and other homes involved, said they were "frustrated" an independent review could not start until after the criminal investigation. "Survivors of child abuse can be assured that we are supporting the police investigation to try and get to the truth and hopefully bring any perpetrators to justice."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-31518560
There was no mention of Melanie Shaw, child abuse survivor and whistleblower, whose testimony was responsible for the instigation of operation Daybreak. Since her release from Peterborough prison a few months ago Melanie has suffered police harassment and has recently been returned to prison but it is not clear on what grounds.
The BBC will not report the matter.
See http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/police-harassment-of-melanie-shaw.html
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