Historical abuse cases 'stretching police resources', says former police chief

Peter Spindler, the former Metropolitan Police lead for child abuse investigations in London, said the publication of allegations against Jimmy Savile in 2012 had led to a rise in historical abuse cases police were investigating with forces increasing the number of officers working on them.

He told an NSPCC debate in London on historical child sexual abuse that police forces will need to take resources from other work to ensure abuse cases are investigated properly, as sexual offences are one of only two types of crime that are on the rise.

“The police service will need to shift its resources around, which will be incredibly challenging in times of austerity,” he said.

“Other types of crime won’t get the same service, and neighbourhood policing will probably return to the 1980s when there was not public protection as we know now.

“These are dilemmas for the police chiefs of today and something will have to give.”

He added that prosecutions of high-profile public figures and the formation of the Goddard Inquiry had given people abused in childhood the confidence to come forward “and their expectation is it will be investigated”.

Spindler, who was the former commander of Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into child abuse by celebrities, also told the meeting that gang and peer-related grooming is now a far greater threat to young people’s safety than family-based child abuse.

He said the perception that most child abuse is carried out by parents, carers or relatives has now changed.

“Young people are much more likely to be abused by one of their peers or from someone in the night-time economy,” Spindler added.