London - Paedophiles in central England
abused up to 1 000 girls, some as young as 11, over a
four-decade period, the Sunday Mirror newspaper reported.
In what may be one of the worst British paedophile rings in
recent history, girls were lured from their families to be
drugged, beaten and raped, the newspaper said.
Telford lawmaker Lucy Allan said the newspaper's findings
were "extremely serious and shocking" and demanded a public
inquiry.
"I will be raising the matter with ministers in parliament
and using every avenue available to ensure that the facts of
what happened are made known," she wrote on her website.
Citing files from the local council in Telford, the Mirror
newspaper said social services, teachers and mental health
workers knew about the abuse but did not inform the police.
West Mercia Police said it took the issue "extremely
seriously" but the information provided by the Mirror was not
new and resulted from a number of high-profile cases including
an operation in 2013.
"This was one of the first national complex critical
investigations into grooming offences," Assistant Chief
Constable Martin Evans said in a statement. "It centred on
historic offending in Telford and Wrekin and ultimately resulted
in seven men being jailed for a total of 49 years."
The newspaper said one schoolgirl became pregnant six times
in four years. A 14-year-old had her phone number sold to
paedophiles and was raped.
"I was told that if I said a word to anyone they’d come for
my little sisters and tell my mum I was a prostitute," the girl
was quoted as saying by the Mirror.
In 2014, revelations that as many as 1 400 children were
sexually abused by gangs of predominantly Asian men in Rotherham
shocked Britain. Eight men were found guilty in 2016 of waging
what prosecutors called an “utterly abhorrent” campaign of
sexual violence and intimidation against girls in the Rotherham
area.