ing. It was published in The Times a day later. The police launched a criminal inquiry into the leak and accused The Times of “exploiting the victims”.
Finally, Rotherham council ordered an independent inquiry in August 2013 because, its chief executive admitted, “The Times won’t leave us alone”. Professor Alexis Jay’s report in 2014 found that 1,400 girls had been groomed and abused in Rotherham since the late 1990s. Children had been trafficked to other cities. Some were doused with petrol and told they would be set alight if they told anyone. The council was placed in special measures. Heads rolled. Norfolk would win the Paul Foot award and the Orwell prize for his investigations and was named the 2014 Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards.
Not that there's been any kind of happy ending to the whole wretched saga.
Julie Bindel on Norfolk at UnHerd – "a rare hero in the grooming gangs story".
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