Cough-up pay-off! says Sex Victim's Mum

What more is there to know about sex scandals in Rochdale?

THE Rochdale mum of one of the victims of the sadistic ring of sexual groomers has asked that the shamed former council boss Roger Ellis be made to repay his over £76,000 redundancy pay-off.  This call follows the release of yet a further critical report into the scandal in which Mr Ellis stands accused of a 'woeful lack of professional curiosity or indifference' in face of a tragedy of tormented teenage girls being corralled like cattle to service certain ethnic men in the borough. 

Roger Ellis declined to comment when the Rochdale Observer approached him at his home in Littleborough earlier this month.  The Rochdale Council claimed it cannot demand that the payment is returned because it is a 'statuary payment'. 

The mother of one of the girls told the Rochdale Ob.:
'It makes me angry that he got this money and be made to pay it back.  The council turned a blind eye and did nothing about it.  My daughter is still struggling with her life.  She did not get a lot of help... (and) MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee found the council was "inexcusably slow" to realise that "widespread and organised" grooming of children was taking place on its doorstep.'

This story is only the latest in a history of scandals that have shocked people in Rochdale.  As I write the latest issue of Northern Voices carries a story by John Walker, a former editor of the old Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP), that reveals more about the scandal of Sir Cyril Smith, Liberal/ LibDem MP for Rochdale 1972-92, who had a perverse penchant for interfering with young boys in care, that began in the 1960s and went on throughout much of the last half of the 20th Century.  Again the authorities did not seem to do their job and seemingly closed their eyes to what was taking place.  More recently in the Castleton area of Rochdale questions have been raised in one neighbourhood about the possibility that there has been grooming of a geriatric in order to acquire certain benefits, and both the local Adult Care and Social Services at Middleton have been contacted.  It is understood that none of those who raised there concerns about this case have yet received acknowledgements form the person dealing with this matter at the Middleton office of the Adult Care Services.