Historic Child Abuse Allegations Investigated

19 February 2015, 10:38 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Nottinghamshire Police have told Capital the force is determined to investigate allegations of historic abuse at children's homes after claims reports weren't properly dealt with in the 90s.

Superintendent Helen Chamberlain, Nottinghamshire's Head of Public Protection, says policies and processes have improved significantly and if the allegations were made now, they would have taken swift action:

'Nottinghamshire Police is determined to conduct thorough investigations in relation to the allegations made about abuse at a number of children's homes in Nottinghamshire over a number of decades.

'Policies, processes and partnership working have improved significantly in recent years and it is clear that had these allegations happened today, swift action would have been taken.

'We have been working closely with partners and local safeguarding boards to ensure our arrangements for investigating offences and caring for victims are as effective as they can be.'

The force has commissioned and been subject to a number of independent reviews into its criminal investigation through the College of Policing, Leicestershire Police, and Operation Yewtree.

Complex Investigation

Nottinghamshire Police say the complexities of investigations like this shouldn't be underestimated.

Superintendent Helen Chamberlain:

'We are investigating reports of abuse from more than 120 people, some of whom have only limited information about their abusers.

'We have found that more than 30 years on, much of the information recorded at the time has been destroyed, while some suspects have died before they could be arrested or interviewed.

'Speaking to witnesses can also result in the need to carry out additional inquiries into unconnected offences. This does make the investigation more difficult, but we have made a number of arrests since the inquiry began and are doing all we can to support the victims and help them to get justice.'