Is Telford the new Rotherham?

• Police in Telford, Shropshire have been accused of being slow to respond 
• West Mercia Police admit to failings in the incident reporting system 
• One teen victim said it could easily be 'on the same scale as Rotherham' 

Police in Telford, Shropshire have been accused of failing to follow up a 'Rotherham-style' abuse scandal in the town.

In Rotherham around 1,400 girls, many of them under-age, were sexually abused over a 16 year period at the hands of men from the town’s Pakistani community.

Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry into the Rotherham scandal, said girls as young as 11 were raped, tortured and even sold to other men.

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Telford, pictured, has a population of 155,000 and it is feared there could be 225 victims

Now the Daily Mirror claims to have unearthed a similar child sex ring in the Midlands. 

It says reports of grooming in Telford were inputted into police computers wrongly and played down despite an earlier probe that led to seven men being jailed in 2012.  

This year, four men from one family and two women were jailed for a total of 104 years for sex crimes.

One victim, who was targeted by paedophiles and forced to sleep with dozens of men, said: 'The police have betrayed the children of this town for a second time.

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Arshid Hussain (in a wheelchair, being pushed by a relative) arriving at his trial at Crown Court. Hussain, one of the ringleaders of the Rotherham abuse scandal, was jailed for 35 years earlier this year

'I dread to think how many victims there have been over the years – it wouldn't surprise me if the offending was on the same scale as Rotherham.

'It has been going on for at least two decades. When will it stop?' 

West Mercia Police have admitted errors were made in the way detailed reports had from street pastors on night patrol had been handled by police.

Some of the street pastors had witnessed teenagers being sold drugs at under-age parties and gangs of men grooming intoxicated children. 

'It has been going on for at least two decades. When will it stop?'

 We attended discos in licensed premises on several occasions and witnessed older men circling the venue in cars.

We also saw three men in their 20s attempt to gain entry to one venue.

They sped off after spotting the street pastors, who alerted police immediately.

The victim added: 'Child safety should be the most important thing and we feel let down by the way evidence has been treated. It is clear there is still a culture of exploitation.'

The Reverend Keith Osmund-Smith, who coordinates the street pastor scheme in the town, said: 'I was never quite sure the things we were reporting were resulting in any serious action. Our reports mainly related to drugs.

'It's part of child sexual exploitation to get children hooked on drugs. We have also walked girls away from cars containing adult males.' 

Police said 100 girls could have become victims in Telford between 2007 and 2009.

Home Office figures show there were 15.1 child sex crimes reported per 10,000 residents in the year to September 2015.

Telford's population is 155,000 – meaning a potential 225 victims.

Supt Tom Harding, of West Mercia Police, said communication had improved dramatically in recent years.

He added: 'Incidents identified by pastors point to potential signs of child sexual exploitation and we use this as intelligence, to target individuals who may need to be investigated.'