Telford CSE survivors: "We were failed"
Two survivors have described how they were failed by authorities in Telford, and how their abuse continued for years because "nobody asked a question".
Holly Archer and Scarlett Jones have spoken to Free Radio, as a damning report found child sexual exploitation "thrived" in the town and went "unchecked" because of failures to investigate offenders.
The Independent Inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation (IITCSE) found more than a thousand children were sexually exploited over at least 30 years.
Written by Tom Crowther QC, the report finally laid bare the truth about the scale of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Telford, and how agencies like the council and West Mercia Police were "aware of it in detail" but "turned a blind eye and chose not to see what was obvious".
"It was deemed that I was just a sex worker"
The findings of the report come as no surprise to survivors like Holly, who campaigned for years to get the inquiry: "I could go to the sexual health clinic every day of the week, and nobody would bat an eyelid.
"It was deemed that I was just a sex worker, but you can't be a sex worker when you're 14."
Scarlett Jones, another survivor who saw one of her abusers jailed as part of Operation Chalice in 2013, says she was failed by every professional she had contact with: "Schools didn't pick up on it for me personally; foster carers, social workers.
"I even went to a GP and told him that I'd been raped. He sorted an abortion out for me but no support was put in place.
"Nobody asked a question, it's as simple as that. Nobody asked a question."
""They lived in fear and their lives were forever changed"
Inquiry chairman Mr Crowther, who issued 47 recommendations for improvement, said the evidence revealed "appalling suffering of generations of children caused by the utter cruelty of those who committed child sexual exploitation.
"Countless children were sexually assaulted and raped. They were deliberately humiliated and degraded. They were shared and trafficked. They were subjected to violence and their families were threatened.
"They lived in fear and their lives were forever changed."
He said an absence of police action had emboldened offenders, and added: "It is impossible not to wonder how different the lives of those early 2000s victims of child sexual exploitation - and indeed many others unknown to this inquiry - may have been had WMP done its most basic job and acted upon these reports of crime."
"Our actions fell far short"
West Mercia Police Assistant Chief Constable Richard Cooper said: "While there were no findings of corruption, our actions fell far short of the help and protection you should have had from us, it was unacceptable, we let you down.
"It is important we now take time to reflect critically and carefully on the context of the report and the recommendations that have been made."
Telford and Wrekin Council said it was working "very hard" to provide "the best possible support for victims of this crime" and accepted the inquiry's recommendations, many of which it is already acting on.