Fourth ex-police officer arrested in Rotherham child abuse probe

A fourth former South Yorkshire Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of non-recent child exploitation and abuse.

A total of 10 victims have now come forward to allege sexual abuse by former South Yorkshire Police officers in Rotherham.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) earlier issued an update to the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) investigation into alleged child sexual abuse by former officers of the force.

The BBC reported in July 2025 that five women who were exploited by grooming gangs as children said they were also abused by police officers in the town in the 1990s and early 2000s.

South Yorkshire Police initially investigated its own former officers before the NCA took over the inquiry.

Among the witness accounts reported by the BBC was the testimony of one woman who said she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving police officer in a marked police car.

She said he would threaten to “hand her back to the gang” if she did not comply.

A former South Yorkshire Police officer in his 60s was arrested in June by the NCA on suspicion of non-recent child sexual abuse offences.

He was taken into custody and later released on conditional bail pending further investigation.

Three other former officers have been arrested since December 2024 on suspicion of historical sexual offences – including attempted rape, indecent assault and misconduct in a public office.

The crimes are alleged to have taken place between 1995 and 2004 while the officers were on duty as constables. None has been charged.

At least 1,400 children were abused by men in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, the landmark report from Prof Alexis Jay into the town’s grooming gangs found in 2014.