Telford: 1,000 children sexually abused after police failed to probe due to racism fears

12 July 2022, 17:05 | Updated: 12 July 2022, 17:56

A report has found over 1,000 children were sexually exploited in Telford over three decades, party because of failings by West Mercia Police
A report has found over 1,000 children were sexually exploited in Telford over three decades, party because of failings by West Mercia Police. Picture: Alamy

By Daisy Stephens

More than a thousand children were sexually exploited over at least 30 years in Telford amid "shocking" police and council failings which were partly due to a desire not to "inflame racial tensions" by investigating Asian men, an inquiry has concluded.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Unnecessary suffering and even deaths of children might have been avoided had West Mercia Police (WMP) "done its most basic job" in acting on reports of such crime, according to findings published on Tuesday.

For decades child sexual exploitation (CSE) "thrived" in the Shropshire town and went "unchecked" because of failures to investigate offenders and protect children amid fears that probes into Asian men would "inflame racial tensions".

Both the council and the police have apologised to the children affected.

Read more: Rishi races ahead as Raab and Shapps back former Chancellor in leadership race

Read more: Priti Patel rules herself out of Tory leadership race

Inquiry chairman Tom Crowther QC said: "The overwhelming theme of the evidence has been the appalling suffering of generations of children caused by the utter cruelty of those who committed child sexual exploitation.

"Victims and survivors repeatedly told the inquiry how, when they were children, adult men worked to gain their trust before ruthlessly betraying that trust, treating them as sexual objects or commodities.

"Countless children were sexually assaulted and raped. They were deliberately humiliated and degraded. They were shared and trafficked. They were subjected to violence and their families were threatened.

"They lived in fear and their lives were forever changed."

Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police probe into child prostitution in the Telford area
Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police probe into child prostitution in the Telford area. Picture: Alamy

He said that "for decades CSE thrived in Telford unchecked" and agencies, including the council and WMP, were "aware of it in detail", adding: "Failure by agencies to investigate emboldened offenders; failure to safeguard put children at risk.

"So far as both the council and WMP were concerned, a number of features appear to have contributed to this shocking failure to address CSE: a focus upon abuse within the family, at the expense of extra-familial exploitation; over-caution about acting in the absence of 'hard evidence' - a formal complaint from a child - about exploitation; and a nervousness that investigating concerns against Asian men, in particular, would inflame racial tensions."

The chairman described a "culture of not investigating what was regarded as 'child prostitution'" and said the force turned "a blind eye and chose not to see what was obvious".

Read more: Heathrow tells airlines to stop selling tickets for summer travel

Read more: Nasa releases stunning new images from James Webb Space Telescope

He said an absence of police action had emboldened offenders, and added: "It is impossible not to wonder how different the lives of those early 2000s victims of child sexual exploitation - and indeed many others unknown to this inquiry - may have been had WMP done its most basic job and acted upon these reports of crime.

"It is also impossible in my view, not to conclude that there was a real chance that unnecessary suffering and even deaths of children may have been avoided."

He also criticised the "glaring failure on the part of a generation of Telford's politicians" not to regard a child sexual exploitation response as an "essential service" in the period before 2016.

West Mercia Police did not properly investigate due to fears of inflaming racial tensions
West Mercia Police did not properly investigate due to fears of inflaming racial tensions. Picture: Alamy

Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police probe into child prostitution in the Telford area.

In 2018, a Sunday Mirror investigation concluded that around 1,000 children could have been sexually exploited in the Shropshire town over a 40-year period, leading to calls for a public inquiry which was commissioned later that year by Telford and Wrekin Council.

Read more: Boris blocks Labour motion of no confidence in Government

Read more: Liz Truss is 'a bit crackers' and 'pretending to be Thatcher', ex-Tory MP says

In 2019, one of the seven prosecuted six years earlier was jailed alongside three other men for abusing a "helpless" young girl who was "passed around like a piece of meat", sold for sex and raped.

The victim, aged just 13 when the abuse began in 2001, told how she was forced to perform sex acts in a churchyard, raped above a shop on a filthy mattress, and violently abused when she tried to refuse their advances.

The inquiry, which has taken three years to conclude, looked at allegations from 1989 to the present day but Mr Crowther said he had also spoken to victims whose experiences dated back to the 1970s.

Updates to follow

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Breaking
Queen Camilla is unwell with a chest infection and has withdrawn from her engagements this week

The Queen withdraws from engagements this week after being taken ill, Buckingham Palace announces

Tesco customers are furious after being forced to wait hours to book a Christmas delivery slot.

'It's like getting Beyonce tickets': Fury as Tesco shoppers face 'ridiculous' online queues for Christmas delivery slots

Ladbaby has broken its silence on historic allegations of gripping.

Charity chart-topper Ladbaby breaks his silence on 'groping' allegations

Labour MP Chris Webb 'attacked and mugged' near London flat by phone snatching gang

Labour MP Chris Webb 'attacked and mugged' near London flat by phone snatching gang

The White House has been barricaded and restaurants and stores boarded up as tensions rise over the election.

Washington DC braces for unrest as White House is barricaded and stores boarded up ahead of US election

Sir Chris Hoy said 'if you're over the age of 45, go and ask your doctor' for screening

Sir Chris Hoy calls for men to be offered prostate cancer screening from the age of 45 after his terminal diagnosis

Kamala Harris went door-knocking in Pennsylvania on the night before the election

Kamala Harris surprises residents in Pennsylvania as she goes door-knocking in final bid to win votes

Nearly 600 police officers sacked in a year amid as shocking figures reveal extent of misconduct crackdown

Nearly 600 police officers sacked in a year as shocking figures reveal extent of misconduct crackdown

Hundreds of people died in the devastating flooding in Spain

British man who survived Valencia floods describes hearing his neighbours’ horrifying final screams before they died

Amy Dowden said she was ‘heartbroken' as she left this year's Strictly Come Dancing

Amy Dowden says her ‘heart is breaking’ after she confirmed she will not return to Strictly

Anthony Scaramucci said the row between Trump and Labour would blow over

'Anglophile' Trump's row with Starmer will have 'no impact' on wider relations with UK, Anthony Scaramucci says

Nick Ferrari attends his first Trump rally in Pennsylvania as he meets the crowd in 'the poorest city in the United States'

Nick Ferrari attends his first Trump rally in Pennsylvania as he meets the crowd in 'the poorest city in the US'

Exclusive
Nick Ferrari bumps into Nigel Farage in Pennsylvania as he reflects on Trump's "remarkable" foreign policy achievements

Nick Ferrari bumps into Nigel Farage in Pennsylvania as he reflects on Trump's 'near-death' experience

Live
Americans are heading to the polls in their millions today

US Presidential Election 2024 LIVE: Millions of Americans head to the polls in the final race for the White House

Proud Boys claim they will go to voting places as Trump repeats election fraud lies.

Proud Boys making plans to mobilise as Trump repeats election fraud lies

File photo of a real NHS dentist

Desperate Brits fall for scam 'fake NHS dentists' amid years-long waits for appointments