Father of murdered Lucy Lowe is told to ‘be careful’ in a threat

The father of a murdered teenager now linked to a child grooming epidemic told of his fears last night after police received a threat to his safety.

Lucy Lowe was 16 and pregnant with her second child when she was murdered alongside her sister Sarah, 17, and their mother Eileen, 49, in a house fire in Telford set by Lucy’s 26-year-old boyfriend, Azhar Ali Mehmood.

The taxi driver was later jailed for life after being convicted of three counts of murder – but was never arrested or charged over sex abuse.

The couple’s 15-month-old daughter was found wrapped in a blanket under a tree in the back garden – after being moved to safety before the fire was lit.

A Sunday newspaper claimed this weekend that Lucy could be one of up to 1,000 victims of grooming or childhood sexual abuse in the Shropshire town over the past four decades – making it potentially one of the worst scandals of its kind in modern Britain.

It can now be revealed that Telford has the third highest number of child sexual offences recorded in the UK, just behind Blackpool and Rotherham, according to the Home Office.

Last night, as there were calls from the charity Barnado’s for an independent inquiry into the growing scandal, Lucy’s father George said he was fearful of reprisals as he spoke out about his fears his daughter was groomed.

Mr Lowe, 73, told how police received a call from an untraceable pay-as-you-go handset last week warning that the bereaved father needed to ‘be careful’ – as it emerged Lucy and another local potential grooming victim who died in her teens, 13-year-old Rebecca Watson, had displayed classic signs of being abused in the run up to their deaths.

Azhar Ali Mehmood was later jailed for life after being convicted of three counts of murder – but was never arrested or charged over sex abuse

The worrying incident comes almost 18 years after Mr Lowe’s family was wiped out in the fire at their home in Leegomery, Telford, Shropshire. Mehmood was jailed for life with a minimum 18-year tariff. Mr Lowe, who now lives in Wellington, just outside Telford, said: ‘A police officer visited me last week and said they would be implementing security measures at my home as a result of this phone call. They are not discounting the possibility of another arson attack and were talking about installing a fireproof letterbox.’

Mr Lowe and his sister, Edna Jackson, also told how Lucy became ‘unruly’ after getting together with Mehmood, often truanting from her school – where the family were later told taxis would congregate to pick up pupils.

Mr Lowe added: ‘I don’t know if that was how she first encountered him or not.

‘She began truanting. I tried my best to get her to school but I couldn’t forcibly drag her there.’

He said he ‘should have been tougher’ and put a stop to his daughter’s relationship with the older man, but said the taxi driver had claimed he was four years younger than his true age.

Mrs Jackson, 72, added: ‘Lucy would climb out of windows in order to get out if she was grounded. Back then, I just thought it was her being a teenager but now we all know a lot more about grooming and the effects such abuse can have on the victims. Lucy’s behaviour fits that picture. I can’t bear to think she was being groomed and wasn’t able to ask for help.’

Rebecca Watson was 13 when she died in March 2002 after falling from the bonnet of a car near her youth club, in what driver Ahmed Nawaz claimed was a ‘prank’ which went tragically wrong.

The Sunday Mirror claimed it had diaries that revealed her torment at being made to sleep around, while her mother, Torron, told the newspaper her daughter had been abused since the age of 11 but that police failed to properly investigate.

Yesterday another relative told the Mail the teenager had gone from being a model pupil and daughter to a troublesome child after falling under the spell of an older female friend.

The relative, who asked not to be identified, said: ‘Becky’s behaviour changed soon afterwards. We knew something was wrong but she wouldn’t say what the problem was. But even then we kept asking ourselves what an 18-year-old wanted with a 13-year-old.

‘Now of course we know that victims of sexual abuse are sometimes themselves used by their abusers to lure in more victims.’

Nawaz, who was 21, at the time of the teenager’s death, was jailed for three years and banned from driving for five years after admitting reckless driving. He denied knowing anything about childhood sexual abuse in the Telford area when approached by the Mail last night, and categorically denied any involvement in such activity himself.

Last night Barnardo’s chief executive Javed Khan said: ‘The scale of the abuse in Telford is deeply shocking and those responsible must be held accountable for any failings uncovered.

‘Barnardo’s would support a public inquiry to understand what went wrong so the same mistakes are never made again. It is vital that police and other agencies leave no stone unturned to bring child sex abusers to justice.’

Yesterday Clive Jones, director of children and adult services at Telford and Wrekin Council, said he was not aware of any murders associated with child abuse in Telford and said he did not recognise the figure of 1,000 potential victims. He rejected calls for an independent inquiry, saying: ‘I do not know why it would be necessary.’ He said the council had worked hard to tackle child sexual exploitation and victims now had greater confidence to report abuse.

In 2016-17 the local authority received 337 contacts raising concerns about child sexual exploitation relating to 224 young people, more than half of whom were referred to child protection teams.

Mr Jones said: ‘All (reports) have been investigated with rigour. Because of all the work that we have done I would expect those figures to be high … because young people and parents are prepared to disclose.’

West Mercia Police said it was unable to comment on any ‘operational decisions’ that may have been taken by its officers in relation to Mr Lowe.

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