Rochdale

Stockport MP Ann Coffey, who led a report into child sexual exploitation, has said the authorities' response to abuse "shouldn't be a postcode lottery".

ITV News Granada Political Reporter Daniel Hewitt reports:

A whistleblower has claimed police put a "ceiling" on the number of people they could arrest in the 2012 Rochdale abuse case.

Sara Rowbotham told ITV News, "They didn't arrest enough perpetrators."

"They said there was a ceiling on the number of victims they wanted to interview, there was a ceiling on the number of perpetrators they were going to identify," the former Rochdale Crisis Intervention Team coordinator.

"[They said] they had to stop at some point because it was too big for them to cope with - so they limited the investigation solely to nine or 10 perpetrators."

The whistleblower in the 2012 Rochdale child sex abuse case has told ITV News she "told everybody" about the abuse that was going on, but no one listened to her.

"I told as many people as I possibly could," health worker Sara Rowbotham said.

"I followed up those referrals, made phone calls, tried to find out what action was being taken, banged on every possible door that I could think of to get support".

The health worker responsible for gathering the main evidence in the 2012 Rochdale child sex abuse case has told ITV News she is disappointed with the results of a report led by MP Ann Coffey.

Sara Rowbotham, who worked as Rochdale Crisis Intervention Team coordinator from 2004, said no-one has been held to account for all their failings.

Rowbotham was tasked with identifying young people vulnerable to child sex exploitation.

The health worker said she had alerted the authorities to hundreds of children who were being abused, but no-one listened to her at the time.

Detectives say they believe a body and a human leg was found at Whitworth at the weekend could be that of missing Rossendale man Heath Nield. The body was found on land behind Healey Conservative Club at Whitworth shortly before 2.45pm on Sunday, September 21. Police said officers are in the process of recovering the body.

While formal identification has not yet been carried out police believe there is a strong possibility that the body is that of Heath Nield, 31, who went missing from his home in Rochdale Road, Bacup in July.

Mr Nield’s family have been made aware of the latest development. Further forensic tests are to be carried out to confirm the identity of the body

The body was found on land behind the Conservative Club in Whitworth - it comes after a human leg was discovered on Sunday afternoon.

Police in Lancashire will search land near Rochdale this morning after a human leg was found. Officers were called to Whitworth after a dog walker made the discovery at around 3pm yesterday afternoon on Market street.

The adult leg was on some land behind Healey Conservative Club. It's not yet clear how long the leg has been there or whether it belonged to a man or a woman.