More than 1,000 children in the English town of Telford were sexually abused between 1989 and the present day amid the failure of police and local authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice, according to the conclusion of an independent inquiry which saw the light of day on Tuesday. .
More than 1,000 children in the English town of Telford were sexually abused between 1989 and the present day amid the failure of police and local authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice, according to the conclusion of an independent inquiry which saw the light of day on Tuesday. .
The mystery of the case began to unravel following an investigation by the Sunday Mirror newspaper into the sexual exploitation of minors from the 1980s. The subsequent criminal investigation confirmed the allegations and found that the abuse was allowed to continue because the children were blamed instead of the perpetrators.
Among other things, teachers were discouraged from reporting incidents of sexual abuse, while police feared that investigating some of the alleged perpetrators, who were of Asian descent, would inflame racial tensions, according to the report.
“Countless children were sexually assaulted and raped,” said Tom Crowder, who led the investigation. Citing testimonies from several victims, he said some men approached them with the intention of gradually gaining their trust and when they achieved their goal they exploited them to satisfy their sick appetites.
The local police apologized for their failure to prevent these crimes, while the local authorities apologized to the victims and their families.
The case adds to a series of horrific sexual abuse cases in Britain. In 2014, another independent investigation revealed that around 1,400 children in an English town had been victims of sexual abuse, while the famous TV presenter and radio producer Jimmy Savile was revealed after his death in 2011 to have sexually abused more than 500 children.
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