The South Yorkshire Police Commissioner, Shaun Wright, has resigned after coming under pressure over the Rotherham child abuse scandal.

Mr Wright faced calls to step down from the British Prime Minister and Home Secretary after a report found 1,400 children in the South Yorkshire town had been victims of child sexual exploitation since 1997.

He also endured a grilling from MPs and was confronted by relatives of abuse victims at an angry public meeting in Rotherham earlier this month, when he again refused to resign.

Mr Wright was councillor with responsibility for children's services in the borough from 2005 to 2010, when Professor Alexis Jay's report found officials failed to act to stop gangs of abusers.

In a statement released by his office, he said: "My role as South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner has clearly become prominent in terms of public opinion and media coverage following the publication of Professor Alexis Jay's report.

"This is detracting from the important issue, which should be everybody's focus - the 1,400 victims outlined in the report - and in providing support to victims and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for the atrocious crimes committed against them.

"With this in mind, I feel that it is now right to step down from the position of police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire, for the sake of those victims, for the sake of the public of South Yorkshire and to ensure that the important issues outlined in the report about tackling child sexual exploitation can be discussed and considered in full and without distraction."