What is the Telford child grooming scandal, who was involved in the sex abuse ring and how many victims were there?
THE Telford child grooming ring could prove to be Britain’s ‘worst ever’ with up to 1,000 kids drugged, raped and abused.
Authorities in Telford, Shropshire, repeatedly failed to stamp out the network of perverts and paedophiles, which is believed to have started in the 1980s.
What is the extent of the abuse?
Child abuse experts say there could be up to 1,000 kids that suffered abuse in Telford – meaning there were more per head of population than in the similar scandals that hit Rochdale and Rotherham.
The abuse is said to have started in the 1980s with social workers said to have known about the offences since the 1990s but police only launched a probe a decade later.
Files are believed to show that council staff regarded the children who were abused and trafficked as prostitutes rather than victims.
Authorities failed to keep details of abusers from Asian communities for fear of being labelled racist.
How bad was the abuse?
In a high profile case, Lucy Lowe was 16 when abuser Azhar Ali Mehmood, 26, set fire to her house, killing her, her mum Eileen and sister Sarah, 17, in 2000.
The taxi driver first targeted her in 1997.
She was 14 when she gave birth to his daughter.
He was jailed for the murders – but was never arrested or charged over sex abuse.
In 2002 another schoolgirl – Becky Watson, 13 – was killed in an unexplained car accident in the Shropshire town.
Despite the smash being recorded at the time as a “prank” gone wrong, it later emerged she had reportedly been abused by an Asian grooming gang since she was 11.
It's alleged that three people were murdered and two others died in tragedies linked to the scandal, while two whistleblowers were silenced.
Allegations have been made that girls as young as 11 were drugged, beaten and raped.
There are claims that similar abuse is continuing in the area.
Growing calls for an investigation
Tory MP for Telford Lucy Allan has demanded a public inquiry and said the findings were “extremely serious and shocking".
Rotherham MEP Jane Collins has added her voice with those calling for an investigation around the child abuse allegations in Telford
Collins, who has spent years campaigning for justice for the Rotherham victims, also said the West Midlands PCC and nine councillors who wrote to Amber Rudd saying an inquiry was 'not necessary' need to be named and held accountable for their actions.
Torron Watson, mother of Becky, who died aged 13 said "Girls like Becky were treated like criminals."
"A girl of 13 is not a criminal for being raped and abused, she is a victim and it is the disgusting perverts who abused and violated her who are the criminals."
A spokeswoman for the NSPCC said it was "vital" action was taken against these crimes to prevent them from happening in future.
She added: "The scale of the problem of child sexual exploitation in Telford and Wrekin is deeply concerning.
"Child sexual exploitation is a pernicious crime which ruins lives and victims must be able to speak out in the knowledge they will be taken seriously and action will be taken."
A victim of the Telford sex abuse speaks out
A woman only referred to as “Holly” spoke about her ordeal on Good Morning Britain, saying she was abused between the ages of 14 and 18 and had attempted to kill herself.
She said: “It was just a whirlwind of rape every day basically. I was going into the doctors and the youth sexual health clinic to get the morning after pill, probably twice a week, and nobody even questioned anything.
“I had two abortions, still nothing was said to me. I was in cars that were stopped by the police and they asked me no questions of why I was there with a much older man... it got to the point where I tried to commit suicide, and still nobody asked me any questions about what was going on in my life and why I was reacting the way I was reacting.”
She also claimed the men who were abusing her were also blackmailing her into keeping quiet, saying they would rape members of her family or burn her house down.
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Who were the perpetrators of the abuse?
Following the police probe into the abuse, called Operation Chalice, some of those responsible were brought to justice, including seven men who were banged up in 2013.
Mubarek Ali, 34, and his brother Ahdel Ali, 27, were both jailed for sexually abusing, trafficking, and prostituting teens.
Mubarek sold teenage girls, some as young as 13, for sex above an Indian restaurant in Telford, Shropshire, after grooming them.
Ahdel was handed a 26-year sentence after the pair sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted or tried to prostitute four teenagers.
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