The Telford case has been in the public spotlight since 2012. At that time, seven men were convicted of abuse, rape and so-called “grooming” of children in the British small town, according to the BBC. Children under the age of 13, considered “particularly vulnerable”, were given alcohol and drugs, and sold to men in several places in the country. The conditions the men were convicted of took place between 2007 and 2009, and the police believed at the time that more than 100 children could be victims of sexual exploitation and prostitution. In 2016, an investigation carried out by local authorities found that the victims of the trafficking ring in Telford were probably far more than those who had then sought help. Then, in 2018, the newspaper Daily Mirror revealed that the case was far bigger than the police and authorities had previously estimated. The newspaper showed that the abuses had far more victims, and stretched back to the 1970s. On Tuesday, an independent investigation gave the newspaper justice. The investigation found that: More than 1000 children have been abused in Telford Obvious evidence of the abuse had been ignored, and authorities had not shared information among themselves Children had been blamed for abuse directed at them, and the authorities disregarded abuse allegations and evidence because it was “child prostitution” Teachers and child and youth workers were urged not to report Another three men were convicted of the abuses in 2019. Did not follow up on alerts Now the police are slaughtered locally for not being able to uncover the abuses earlier. The police are said to have placed the blame for the abuse on the victims, not the abusers. In a statement, Chief of Police Richard Cooper apologizes for the local police’s previous mistakes: – Our actions were not close to giving you the protection and help you should have received, it was unacceptable, and we disappointed you, Cooper writes in the statement. According to the Daily Mirror, the child welfare service in Telford received 715 reports of abuse during a three-year period. Only half were followed up. The authorities are also said to have been afraid to take on warnings and suspicions, because they feared being branded racists. Victims and survivors repeatedly told how as children they met adult men who worked to win their trust, before brutally betraying them and treating them as sexual objects. Countless children were sexually abused and raped, says committee leader Tom Crowther according to The Guardian. Both those who have investigated the case over the past three years, and The Daily Mirror, have spoken to a large number of women who have been abused. – I must have received the attack pill at a local clinic at least twice a week, but no one asked questions about it, a victim has told the newspaper earlier. Gang-raped as a 16-year-old – threatened with house fire She was between 14 and 18 years old when the abuse took place. The woman further says that she was gang-raped by five men right after her 16th birthday. Then she was told by the leader of the abuse network who abused her, that they would burn down her house if she told anyone about the rape. It was a threat she had to take seriously, points out one of the Mirror journalists behind the revelation in a column published in connection with the investigation. Journalist Geraldine McKelvie refers to the murder of 16-year-old Lucy Lowe, as well as a number of other victims. Lowe, her mother and sister were killed when their house was set on fire in 2000. She had become pregnant for the second time with taxi driver Azhar Ali Mehmood, who was convicted of the triple murder. However, he was never convicted of assaulting Lowe. Their common daughter, Tasnim, survived the fire. The report also finds that Lowe’s fate was used as a threat to the victims. The Telford case is not the only abuse case that has shaken the British in recent years. Recently, police in Rotherham and Rochdale have also been criticized for failing to follow up on extensive abuse cases. The committee behind the Telford report has made a number of recommendations on how to prevent something like this from happening again. Now the victims want to see change. “We will not stop until every single recommendation has been followed up,” survivors Scarlett Jones and Holly Archer told the BBC.
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Rape and abuse in small town goes back decades – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
