More than 1,000 abused as Child Sexual Exploitation 'thrived unchecked' in Telford

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) in Telford has outlined the shocking level and nature of the abuse of children in the town – dating as far back as the 1970s.

In a series of damning findings the report says that "more than a thousand Telford children were exploited over decades", and that "obvious child sexual exploitation was ignored".

It found that key organisations dismissed child exploitation as “child prostitution”, and blamed children, not perpetrators, for their exploitation.

In an echo of findings from other CSE investigations across the country, it says that exploitation was not investigated "because of nervousness about race", and adds the shocking detail that teachers and youth workers were "discouraged from reporting child sexual exploitation".

It also outlines how even after Operation Chalice saw seven men jailed for their involvement in a CSE ring in Wellington in 2013, Telford & Wrekin Council and West Mercia Police (WMP) "scaled down their specialist CSE teams to virtual zero – to save money".

The inquiry, led by Tom Crowther QC, describes how "countless children were sexually assaulted and raped", and that police and successive councils failed to take the issue seriously despite key agencies being "aware of it in detail".

Mr Crowther QC concluded that both the council and West Mercia Police had an 'over caution' about not taking action without a specific complaint from a victim, along with a "nervousness that investigating concerns against Asian men, in particular, would inflame racial tensions".

The inquiry found that at one point, after 2004, council workers were told not to share detailed reports on CSE on e-mail, because the allegations "could start a race riot".

The report says that the failure to act on long-standing concerns – from the 1990s – "emboldened offenders", and that a failure to safeguard put children at risk.

Mr Crowther QC said the investigation, sparked by reports from the Daily Mirror in 2016 warning that thousands of children had been sexually abused in the town, had shown how victims and survivors lived in fear, and had their lives permanently changed.

He 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."

Mr Crowther QC said CSE had been a part of Telford since the 1970s, and that the attitudes towards the abuse were a result of it not being recognised or challenged.

He reported how some families had seen parents and children suffer the same type of abuse.

He said: "For decades CSE thrived in Telford unchecked. The account of a child of the 1970s who recalls being sexually touched by groups of men in a corner shop and given gifts for her silence echoes in similar accounts given by victims and survivors who were exploited as children 30 years later – only the nature of the gifts had changed.

"I saw references to exploitation having become “generational”; having come to be regarded as “normal” by perpetrators and as inevitable by victims and survivors, some of whose parents had been through similar experiences.

"Such attitudes can only develop if exploitation is not properly recognised and challenged, and in my view, for many years in Telford – as in many other towns and cities in England - it was not."

The report outlines how for too long the abuse of victims and survivors had been seen as their fault.

Mr Crowther QC said: "Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s exploited children were seen by professionals within Safeguarding and WMP as having made unwise “lifestyle choices”.

"The children were treated as having put themselves at risk, rather than having been intentionally targeted for exploitation."

Mr Crowther QC said he does believe both the police and the council have teams and policies for tackling CSE today, but said they should question why it took so long to happen.

He said: "I do consider that today the key organisations responsible for addressing CSE in Telford – the Council and WMP – have in place properly resourced, dedicated and expert teams that are well equipped both to identify CSE risk areas and help children who are being exploited.

"In my judgment, key organisations should reflect upon why it took them so long to react when the lives of children – and, consequently, the lives of the adults they would become – were being blighted by exploitation."

The report also outlines 47 recommendations, including the establishment of a joint CSE group between West Mercia Police and Telford & Wrekin Council, with a requirement to publish an annual report, as well as ring-fenced funding for the team tasked with tackling the issues.