CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL: 12 MORE VICTIMS
MP swamped with emails from women saying: ‘It happened to me’
POLICE are looking at 12 new claims of child sex abuse in Telford carried out by gangs of men.
One girl got pregnant at 13 by one of 20 perverts. The town’s MP is “inundated” with victims’ emails.
ONE of the 12 new victims of an alleged paedophile ring in Telford has spoken of how she was picked up off the streets as a child and sexually abused by a string of men.
She said she became pregnant but had been preyed on by so many perverts she still has no idea who the father is.
The shocking revelation came as local MP Lucy Allan claimed she has been swamped with calls from people telling her they were targeted by the sex gangs.
The victim, who along with 11 others has gone to police with her allegations, told the Mirror: “I was first picked up on the streets by an older Pakistani man when I was 12.
“I had a hard home life, and he was charming at first, but soon he raped me.
“I tried to fight him off but not long afterwards he passed me to his friends. By 13, I was pregnant and the father could have been any one of 20 men.
“The abuse didn’t stop when I gave birth, in fact it got worse. The most horrific night was when two of them took me up The Wrekin hill and violently raped me. My teachers or social workers never asked any questions so I thought what was happening to me was normal.
“Being abused by gangs of men just seemed part of teenage life in Telford.”
Police are understood to be reopening historic abuse cases and launching new investigations after the Sunday Mirror revealed up to 1,000 victims could have been abused over nearly four decades.
Ms Allan said yesterday: “In the light of the recent revelations I have been literally inundated with emails saying, ‘This has happened to me.’
“I have also spoken to a psychiatrist who has had many patients who have experienced this issue and are dealing with the mental health consequences of this terrible crime. It is clear this has
The abuse did not stop when I gave birth, it got worse. Two of them violently raped me TELFORD VICTIM ON HER ORDEAL AT THE HANDS OF GROOMING GANGS
been going on for many years and a significant number of girls affected.”
West Mercia Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans last night confirmed a number of victims had come forward this week following the Mirror’s shocking revelations about the Shropshire town.
He said: “We are pleased they have had the confidence to come forward and we are ensuring their reports are investigated and the appropriate support is in place for them.
“The reports we have received this week relate to non-recent child sexual exploitation offences.
“Our message to offenders who perpetrate these horrific crimes is we will investigate any reports we receive, and go wherever the evidence takes us to secure a conviction against you.”
Telford’s Children Abused Through Exploitation has said that since April 2016 it had received 2,000 requests for help with abuse issues. A report found the body was under-resourced and stretched youth workers faced “almost double” the recommended caseload. One teenager feared to have been a victim of the grooming gangs, Lucy Lowe, 16, was murdered in an arson attack on her home in 2003, which also killed her mum Eileen and sister Sarah, 17. Telford council leader Shaun Davies this week asked Home Secretary Amber Rudd to open an independent inquiry into the abuse. It marked a U-turn from 2016 when he was one of 10 men who signed a letter to Ms Rudd rejecting calls for a separate probe to the government one. But the Home Office has ruled out a dedicated Telford inquiry.