The three-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation (IICSE) found that the abuse was allowed to continue for years and that the children were often blamed rather than the abusers. The issues were not investigated because of nervousness about race, the inquiry’s final report said, and teachers and youth workers were discouraged from reporting child sexual exploitation. Tom Crowther QC, who presided over the inquest, said: “The overwhelming theme of the evidence was the horrific suffering of generations of children caused by the sheer cruelty of those who sexually exploited children. “Victims and survivors repeatedly told the inquest how, when they were children, grown men worked to earn their trust before ruthlessly betraying that trust by treating them as sexual objects or commodities. Countless children have been sexually assaulted and raped.” Earlier this year, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published a report on the sexual exploitation of children nationally, concluding that police and councils underestimate the scale of the problem and children are often blamed for the abuse their. It followed investigations into child sex abuse rings in towns including Rotherham and Rochdale. The Telford report, published on Tuesday, echoes a number of these findings, concluding that a number of factors have led to the “shocking failure” of authorities in the Shropshire town to tackle the problem, including being overly cautious about taking action in the absence of “tough of evidence”. “Offenders were encouraged and exploitation continued for years without a concerted response,” Crowther concluded. In 2013 seven men were jailed following Operation Grail, a police investigation into child prostitution in the Telford area which found girls as young as 13 being sexually exploited and groomed with offers of alcohol and money. However, the report says that following the convictions, authorities failed to understand the importance of maintaining focus in this area and “by 2015 both the council and [West Mercia police] provision for sexual exploitation of children [CSE] it had somehow gone back nearly a decade.’ “Even after Operation Grail, the police and the council cut specialist CSE teams to virtual zero – to save money,” Crowther concluded. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST The report also said it was often the work of “committed individuals rather than top-down directives” that kept the project going. “It was, as in 2006, ‘territorial’ officers and professionals keeping the CSE response alive,” Crowther said. The research confirms the findings of a 2018 Sunday Mirror investigation which suggested up to 1,000 children in the city may have been victims of child sexual exploitation for over 40 years. “The extent to which that estimate was accurate has been the subject of debate at Telford,” Crowther said. “I have come to the conclusion that the Sunday Mirror’s assessment is a perfectly measured, reasonable and unreasonable assessment.” Crowther said he would review stakeholders’ progress in two years and his findings would be published. “They will be accountable to victims, survivors and the wider public for their response to these recommendations.” Speaking on behalf of West Mercia Police, Assistant Chief Constable Richard Cooper, said: “I would like to apologise. Apologies to the survivors and all those affected by child sexual exploitation in Telford. Although 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, we let you down. “It is important now to take the time to think critically and carefully about the content of the report and the recommendations that have been made. We now have teams dedicated to preventing and dealing with child exploitation.”
