SOUTH Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) said yesterday that he still did not fully understand how “police could turn away from young girls who were being exploited” in Rotherham.

Dr Alan Billings became PCC when his predecessor Shaun Wright was forced to resign in the wake of the Jay Report into child sexual exploitation.

He came into office last year with a stated commitment to put the issue at the top of the force’s agenda.

Dr Billings has insisted that he has made sure more officers are dedicated to the problem and has implemented an independent review of what went wrong, which is due to report by the end of the year.

But he is most keen to promote the victims’ and survivors’ panel he set up which, he said, is now informing South Yorkshire Police’s practice and training.

But he said: “I don’t think the public of South Yorkshire will feel happy until they start to see the prosecutions coming through and I think by the end of the year we should begin to see that.”