Leeds police chief quizzed on city safeguarding in wake of paedophile child custody case

Chief Superintendent Steve Dodds, West Yorkshire Police’s District Commander for Leeds, said he was “comfortable” with the structures that are in place to protect vulnerable youngsters.

The shocking case of ‘Ruby’ (not her real name) was recently revealed in a report by the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership, which is made up of representatives from the local authority, police and the NHS. It told how a convicted paedophile was given sole custody of Ruby, despite the authorities being aware of his criminal past. He went on to abuse her over a number of years and was only caught by the police after he was found to have got her pregnant.

It is understood Leeds City Council did not refer the case to a national safeguarding panel because they deemed it did not meet a threshold of “serious harm”. That decision is believed to have been opposed by the police and the NHS, with elements of the falling out being exposed at a council scrutiny meeting last year, before the exact details of Ruby’s case were made public.

Since the report was published, the Safeguarding Partnership has refused to answer any questions around its handling of the case. It has also refused to confirm that the matter was not referred upwards.

At an executive board meeting of senior councillors on Wednesday, at which Supt Dodds appeared, Ruby’s case was not mentioned directly. However, the district commander was asked for his view on the effectiveness of local safeguarding procedures.

The leader of the council’s Conservative group, Andrew Carter said: “The police participate in the safeguarding boards in Leeds for both adults and children. Are you happy that the safeguarding boards are as rigorous as they need to be in passing complaints up the chain when they really need to be, whether it’s violence, a risk to young people or indeed elderly people?”

In response, Supt Dodds replied: “I am comfortable and confident we have structures in place and that we are working with our partners to work through any issues that come up in this city.”

He added: “There’s been a significant investment of time both from the police and our partners around reviewing those structures. We’re very much working to make those as effective and supportive for victims as they can be.”