Police officers sexually assaulted us as well, say Rotherham survivors

Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also allegedly raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed.

- Robyn Vinter

In one case, a girl who reported the abuse after being put under pressure by the gang to have an illegal abortion was left "destroyed" when an officer who had allegedly raped her turned up to interview her, she told the BBC.

Three former police officers have been arrested as part of an investigation into the alleged assaults, South Yorkshire police (SYP) have confirmed, while a fourth former officer who was accused has since died.

One girl was raped in a marked police car by a serving police officer, who threatened to hand her back to a gang to suffer "multiple rapes" if she did not comply, she told the BBC.

The women accuse corrupt officers of turning a blind eye or participating in the grooming between the mid-90s and early 2000s. The wider scandal affected at least 1,400 girls in Rotherham and continued until at least 2013.