On July 12, an independent inquiry into Telford sexual exploitation case revealed how authorities looked away in the matter where over 1,000 children were groomed by Muslim gangs just because of racial unease. The report found that the key agencies investigating the matter dismissed child exploitation as “child prostitution.” They blamed the children for the situation and not the perpetrators.
The independent chair that investigated the case submitted the report on July 12, in which they concluded that the investigating agencies were nervous about the race of the accused and did not investigate the case properly. They added that the youth workers and teachers were discouraged from reporting the offences and exploitation of children. The steps taken by the authorities to ignore the matter resulted in the exploitation of the children for years.
As per reports, there had been a widespread grooming nexus in the town since 1989. The independent chair found that the men would approach girls while being disguised as taxi drivers or food delivery drivers. Then they would pursue them to be their ‘girlfriend.’ These men would give the girls lifts. They would buy alcohol and cigarettes for them and later pursue them to indulge in sexual activities. The children were made to believe that everything that happened was normal.
The girls were threatened with violence
The investigation revealed that the men would drive the girls to a remote location and then force them to indulge in sexual activities. If they refuse, they will threaten them with abandonment and violence. The perpetrators gave death threats to them and to their families. It was also revealed that gang rape was not an unusual thing to happen to the victims.
It was found that the perpetrators did not use contraceptives while having sexual relations with the victims. The lack of protection during sex led to unwanted pregnancies, and most of such pregnancies were allegedly terminated. However, some of the victims had to bear the children of the perpetrators.
Authorities were nervous because of the race of the accused
In its report, the independent chair found that there was evidence provided by the survivors that pointed toward the inaction of the West Merica Police. It was mentioned that the Police did not take proper action in several cases to avoid being labeled as racist or because Asian men were involved in the case. Pursuing such cases would potentially attract headlines that would have been deemed negative for the Police department.
The chair reported that during the 1990s and early 2000s, the Police officials were more nervous about pursuing such cases because of the race of the accused, especially in parts of Wellington.
It is pertinent to note that while western reports often brand these perpetrators as “Asian men”, the men who groomed thousands of white girls in the UK have more often than not been Muslim men, mostly belonging to Pakistan and other Islamic nations.
The case of Lucy Lowe
The investigating chair found that the accused used the murder of Lucy Lowe to threaten other children. Lucy was only 16 years old when her abuser set her home on fire. Her mother and sister were killed in the incident. Though the accused taxi driver, identified as Azhar Ali Mehmood, was jailed by the court for the murder charges, he was never prosecuted for the sex offences.
When Lucy was just 14 years old, she gave birth to a child. When she died, she was again pregnant. During the investigation, the chair found that one particular school was well aware of Lucy’s murder, and the children were intimidated from making any complaints about the matter. One of the witnesses said in a statement that the girls of that particular school were aware of Lucy’s murder and scared to talk about it.
The agencies knew but ignored the sexual exploitation of children
The report noted that the authorities and investigation agencies were well aware of the sexual exploitation of the children, but they chose to ignore it. Because of their attitude towards the matter, the exploitation continued for decades. During the 1990s, police officers, youth workers, and teachers expressed their concerns about the repeated incidents of children going missing. However, they were not taken seriously by the council or the West Mercia Police department.
The independent chair was headed by Tom Crowther QC. 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.”
Children were judged for having multiple sexual relations
A survivor identified as Holly Archer (changed name) said in a statement, “Social services let me down, the mental health team, children’s mental health service – they let me down.” Archer was sexually abused when she was only 14 years old. She added, “The police, my GP surgery, everyone would see us on the street and just drive past in the middle of the night without saying a word.”
Alleging they dismissed themselves from their duty to protect the children, Archer said, “So actually I think everybody who had a duty of care dismissed themselves of that responsibility for the whole of that time in my life. They could have asked me what was happening, and it could have been just something as simple as that, and nobody asked me. Lessons I’d like to be learned out of that is that everybody has a little bit of professional curiosity, whether or not it’s their responsibility. Everybody’s job is to protect children. We were judged as being promiscuous or making those choices ourselves.”
Reports suggest that the victims were treated as common prostitutes. There was a so-called ‘rape-house’ in the area that operated for decades. Some of the victims were even jailed as they failed to pay the fines.
The judgment of 2013 and the failure of authorities to follow up similar cases
The report pointed out the judgment of 2013 in which seven men were jailed following Operation Chalice, under which it was found that girls as young as 13 were sexually exploited and groomed in exchange for money and alcohol. Out of seven men who were convicted in Operation Chalice were brothers. The court noted that the brothers sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted, or attempted to prostitute at least four teenagers between March 2008 and December 2009.
However, following the convictions, the local authorities in the area failed to follow up on the cases and did not understand the importance of focusing on similar cases in the Telford region.
The report said, “By 2015, both the council and [West Mercia police] provision for child sexual exploitation [CSE] had in some ways gone back almost a decade”. The report further added that in order to save funds, the Police and the Council scaled-down the specialist CSE teams to almost NIL following Operation Chalice.
West Mercia Police apologies to the victims
In response to the report by the independent chair, West Mercia Police issued a statement apologizing to the victims and survivors. Assistant Chief Constable Richard Cooper said, “I would like to say sorry. Sorry to the survivors and all those affected by child sexual exploitation in Telford. While there were no findings of corruption, our actions fell far short of the help and protection you should have had from us, it was unacceptable, and we let you down. It is important we now take time to reflect critically and carefully on the context of the report and the recommendations that have been made.”
He further added that the force had made improvements, and they have teams dedicated to dealing with the cases of child exploitation. He said that the department is taking steps to prevent such incidents from happening. He said, “We want people who are, or think they are, being exploited or are concerned about child sexual exploitation to report this to us. We will listen, and we will act on any information given to us.”
The Telford & Wrekin Council also issued an apology to the victims and survivors. In an official statement, the government spokesperson said, “Public bodies, their leaders, and frontline professionals must be unafraid of confronting criminality, including child abuse, no matter the race, ethnicity, religion, or other characteristics of perpetrators or their victims. We welcome the recognition in today’s report that those services have improved. But we are determined that previous mistakes must never be repeated, and we will not hesitate to take further national action if required.”
The Mirror’s investigation of 2018 led to independent inquiry
The investigation into Sexual abuse of children in Telford was initiated after an expose in Sunday Mirror in 2018. In the expose, the publication revealed that at least 1,000 children could have been victims of the scandal. It further added that at least three people were murdered, and two others died linked to the scandal. In its 18-month investigation, The Mirror found the social workers had known about the incidents since the 1990s, and the Police bluntly ignored the incidents for decades.
