A brutal sex gang raped as many as 1,000 young girls over 40 years in what may be Britain’s ‘worst ever’ child abuse scandal.
Girls in the town of Telford, Shropshire, were drugged beaten and raped at the hands of a grooming gang active since the 1980s.
Allegations are said to have been mishandled by authorities, with many perpetrators going unpunished, while it is claimed similar abuse continues in the area.
Mubarek Ali, 34, (left) and his brother Ahdel Ali, 27, (right) from Telford were both jailed year after sexually abusing young girls in a child sex abuse ring
Telford’s Conservative MP, Lucy Allan, has previously called for a Rotherham-style inquiry into the allegations and called the latest reports ‘extremely serious and shocking’.
‘There must now be an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford so that our community can have absolute confidence in the authorities,’ she told the paper.
In Rotherham around 1,400 girls, many of them under-age, were sexually abused over a 16 year period at the hands of men from the town’s Pakistani community.
Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry into the Rotherham scandal, said girls as young as 11 were raped, tortured and even sold to other men.
An estimate of the number of victims was calculated with the help of Professor Liz Kelly, from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, who reviewed the Mirror’s figures.
Dino Nocivelli, a specialist child abuse solicitor, told the Mirror: ‘These children were treated as sexual commodities by men who inflicted despicable acts of abuse. The survivors deserve an inquiry.
Telford’s Conservative MP, Lucy Allan (pictured), has called for a Rotherham-style inquiry
Mubarek Ali, 34, sold teenage girls for sex above an Indian restaurant in Telford after grooming them. He was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court (pictured)
‘They need to know how abuse took place for so long and why so many perpetrators have never been brought to justice.’
Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police inquiry into child prostitution in the Telford area.
Mubarek Ali, 34, sold teenage girls, some as young as 13, for sex above an Indian restaurant in Telford, Shropshire, after grooming them.
His brother Ahdel Ali, 27, was handed a 26-year sentence after the pair sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted or tried to prostitute four teenagers.
The paper says authorities were warned of the abuse a decade before Operation Chalice.
One victim, who was targeted by paedophiles and forced to sleep with dozens of men, said: ‘The police have betrayed the children of this town for a second time.
‘I dread to think how many victims there have been over the years – it wouldn’t surprise me if the offending was on the same scale as Rotherham.
‘It has been going on for at least two decades. When will it stop?’
Telford (pictured) has a population of 155,000 and is about 13 miles east of Shrewsbury
Arshid Hussain (in a wheelchair, being pushed by a relative) arriving at his trial at Crown Court. Hussain, one of the ringleaders of the Rotherham abuse scandal, was jailed for 35 years in 2016. The Telford scandal has eclipsed Rotherham in terms of the number of alleged victims
West Mercia Police have admitted errors were made in the way detailed reports had from street pastors on night patrol had been handled by police.
Some of the street pastors had witnessed teenagers being sold drugs at under-age parties and gangs of men grooming intoxicated children.
‘It has been going on for at least two decades. When will it stop?’
A spokesperson for Telford and Wrekin Council told the paper: ‘Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a vile, evil crime. It’s an issue right across the UK and has been for a long time.
‘Telford will be covered by the national CSE review. We welcome this. All agencies continue to work very closely together and this remains our top priority.’
Police said 100 girls could have become victims in Telford between 2007 and 2009.
Home Office figures show there were 15.1 child sex crimes reported per 10,000 residents in the year to September 2015.
Telford’s population is 155,000 – meaning a potential 225 victims.
Supt Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, said communication had improved dramatically in recent years.
He added: ‘Incidents identified by pastors point to potential signs of child sexual exploitation and we use this as intelligence, to target individuals who may need to be investigated.’