the times | Wednesday April 13 2022 21
News
Police apology and payout
for Rochdale abuse victims
Three victims of grooming gangs in
Rochdale have received “substantial”
damages and a personal apology from
the chief constable of Greater Man-
chester police.
The women met Stephen Watson
yesterday afternoon when he apolo-
gised for police failings when, as child-
ren, they were repeatedly raped and
sexually abused by gangs of men.
Watson apologised for the failure of
the force to protect them and investi-
gate the abusers, which happened
under previous chief constables.
He told the women: “Greater Man-
chester police could and should have
done much more to protect you and we
let you down.”
One of the women, using the pseudo-
nym Daisy, said: “I don’t know if I be-
lieve Greater Manchester police have
really changed their ways as they say
they have, but I’m happy they’ve taken
into account their failings and there’s
finally been some accountability.”
The women, backed by lawyers from
the Centre for Women’s Justice charity,
brought a claim against the police that
said from the early 2000s there was evi-
dence from multiple allegations that
gangs of predominantly Asian men
were grooming, trafficking and sexual-
ly abusing predominantly white work-
ing-class girls in Rochdale.
Lawyers for the three victims, two of
whom were 12 and one 14 at the time,
argued that their human rights were
breached by the police failing to protect
them by stopping the abuse. This in-
cluded failing to record crimes, investi-
gate offenders, collect intelligence, or
charge and prosecute abusers.
Instead of being seen as child victims
of sexual abuse, the girls were viewed
by police as “bad” or “unreliable” wit-
nesses and were sometimes arrested
while reporting abuse.
A police operation to tackle the gangs
was stopped abruptly in 2004, despite
police and social services having the
names of the abusers and their victims.
Eight years later, after a second police
inquiry, Operation Span, nine men
were convicted for sexual exploitation.
Greater Manchester police settled
the claim before the matter got to court.Seeing red Symbolism of the rose is explored through dance in Mystery Sonatas/
for Rosa, choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, at Sadler’s Wells tonight
Grammar school bosses “humiliated” a
teacher who was a mother by forcing
her to express milk in the school’s
lavatories while eating her lunch.
Tara Mellor won a sexual harass-
ment claim against an academy trust
that runs three schools in West York-
shire after school officials repeatedly
refused to provide a room in which she
could express milk.
An employment tribunal heard that
Mellor was “forced” to express milk in
the car park or the “often dirty”
lavatories during her lunch break.
The teacher said that because she
Teacher had to express milk in school lavatories
was allocated only a 25-minute break,
she would have to eat while expressing
milk in the lavatories, which she called
“unhygienic” and “disgusting”.
Mellor won her claim after a employ-
ment judge ruled that Mirfield Free
Grammar, a secondary school that
received a “good” rating in all catego-
ries from Ofsted in 2020, gave her “no
choice” but to resort to the measure.
The tribunal in Hull heard that Mel-
lor taught citizenship at the school,
which was part of the MFG Academies
Trust. She became pregnant with her
first child in 2018 and returned from
maternity leave the next year.
The tribunal heard that her partnerwould bring the baby to school so Mel-
lor could breastfeed in specified, private
rooms that she later used to express.
In September 2019 Mellor informed
school bosses that she was pregnant
again and asked to work three days a
week instead of full time after her
maternity leave. The tribunal heard
that she requested “access to a room to
enable [her] to express regularly”.
She gave birth to a daughter in 2020
and again asked for a room where she
could breastfeed and express milk.
However, as a result of safeguarding
measures during the pandemic, Mellor
was told that breastfeeding her baby on
site was “not an option”. Mellor had ameeting with her line manager, Nicola
Horodczuk, and explained that she
would be “uncomfortable” if she could
not express. Mellor added that she
required a private room.
Under pandemic rules, teachers were
free to go where they liked but pupils
were to stay in the classrooms. School
bosses argued that the policy meant
“many rooms” were “out of use”. The
tribunal rejected that assertion.
Mellor said that she was in “signifi-
cant pain” from not being able to ex-
press. She worked for three days before
taking sick leave because of mastitis,
the swelling of a gland in the breast
usually caused by an infection.When she returned, Mellor again re-
quested a place to express and began
using “the toilets or her car”.
The tribunal was told that it took her
20 minutes so she had no choice but to
eat her lunch at the same time. Mellor
said she mostly used the lavatories
because it was too cold to sit in her car,
where she also risked being seen.
Judge Richard Miller ruled that Mel-
lor “had no choice but to use the toilets
or her car to express”. Upholding the
claim for sexual harassment, he said the
trust’s conduct created a “degrading”
and “humiliating” environment.
Financial compensation will be
determined at a later hearing.Jonathan Ames Legal Editor
ELLIOTT FRANKS