[Iran Press TV] "Nobody could say, 'We didn't know.'" This was the devastatingly simple verdict of the independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham last week. Yet even as hundreds of victims of sexual abuse have been denied the justice of seeing their rapists convicted for their crimes, police and council leaders have pleaded: "We didn't know."
The inquiry found there were ample opportunities for people who were in a position to prevent these vile crimes to grasp the extent of what was going on -- and to act. Whether they knew or they didn't (and the report suggests they should have done), they must acknowledge how seriously they failed the children of Rotherham and take appropriate responsibility.