Number of children involved in Rotherham sex exploitation 'closer to 2,000'
The number of victims in the Rotherham sex exploitation scandal may be even more than the 1,400 children identified in a damning report, according to the town's MP and a project which tried to tackle the problem.
Professor Alexis Jay's report provoked shock and controversy last summer when it described how hundreds of children had been subjected to rape, violence and trafficking by gangs of mainly Asian men in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013.
Today, Rotherham's Labour MP, Sarah Champion, told a Sky News investigation she now thinks the figures in the Jay Report may be an underestimate.
Ms Champion, who was elected in a November 2012 by-election, said: "The Jay Report said 1,400, but I'm getting new victims coming to me on a weekly basis.
"So I would say it's closer to a couple of thousand people who have been groomed or have been sexually exploited in this little town."
The investigation also said it had obtained information from the Risky Business community project in Rotherham which said it identified 1,700 victims between 1999 and 2011.
Risky Business was one of the few organisations praised by Prof Jay, but it was largely ignored and even harassed.
In her first interview, Risky Business's former manager Jayne Senior told Sky News: "I was accused of saying too much, sharing too much information, reporting too much intelligence.
"Risky business didn't make all this up. It was accused of making it all up, and Alexis Jay exonerated all of that, but we didn't just get up and think: 'What shall we do today? Let's make up that...'."
The programme also talked to a victim - identified as "Gemma" - who said her abusers are still driving around Rotherham's streets.
She said: "I'm still seeing my abusers, driving young girls in the car.
"They're untouchable. Six months on we've had no arrests, no charges, evidence is still being lost. They're just giving them - 'do what you want'."
Asked about what happened to Risky Business, Gemma said: "I think it was shut down because they were trying to tackle the problem."
She said this amounted to a cover-up.
The National Crime Agency has taken over the investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and is in the preliminary stage of its inquiry.
In the wake of the Jay Report a number of high profile figures resigned, including South Yorkshire's police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright, who had been a councillor in the town and responsible for children's services.
Other resignations included those of the council leader, Roger Stone, the chief executive, Martin Kimber and its director of children's services, Joyce Thaker.
