Inquiry finds more than 1,000 children abused by grooming gangs in Telford

An independent inquiry found that more than 1,000 children in Telford were abused and “exploited over decades” since the 1970s by sexual grooming gangs, with “key agencies blaming children not perpetrators”.

Tom Crowther QC, chair of the inquiry, said: “Exploitation was not investigated because of nervousness about race,” as the perpetrators were mainly reported to be Asian men.

Mr Crowther added failings by authorities allowed the “appalling suffering of generations of children”, who were treated as “sexual commodities.”

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