Wirral grooming brothers case review to be kept 'secret'

A serious case review into two shop worker brothers who sexually abused nine girls will not be made public.

Ilvarasan of Wallasey Village, Wirral, and Vinothan Rajenthiram, of Wigan, abused girls between 2010 and 2016.

Author Dr Maggie Atkinson, of the safeguarding board, said she made the decision to protect a victim's identity but a report on recommendations from the review would be published soon.

A councillor said it was "appalling" to keep the review findings "secret".

Dr Atkinson said the serious case review examines "in great detail the circumstances surrounding the sexual abuse of a child".

She said publishing the report would "lead to a high risk of this child being identified".

"It would be morally wrong, and absolutely illegal, to risk identifying the victim of a sexual crime."

The decision not to disclose the report was agreed by the Department for Education (DfE), she said.

The DfE said: "Any decision not to publish a serious case review is taken by the chair of the local safeguarding children board."

Dr Atkinson said it was important lessons learnt as a result of the tragic case were in the public domain and a report of the recommendations coming from the review was due to be published "in the coming weeks".

Wallasey Conservative councillor Paul Hayes said he was "appalled" the review was being kept "secret".

He said under government guidelines serious case reviews "should be written in a way so as not to identify victims".

Mr Hayes called on the Labour leader of Wirral Council councillor, Phil Davies, to join him in a campaign to get the report published.

He said: "We owe it to the victims to ensure those who failed them are held accountable and that lessons are learnt.

"The victims of these horrendous crimes should have their anonymity protected but the people who failed them should face public scrutiny."