1000 children may have been victims in Britain's biggest ever child abuse scandal

A teenage girl, who claims to be a victim of sexual abuse and alleged grooming in Rotherham poses in 2014. A new sex abuse scandal has been revealed in Telford. Photo / Getty

A brutal sex gang raped as many as 1000 young girls over 40 years in what may be Britain's "worst ever" child abuse scandal.

Girls in the town of Telford, Shropshire, were drugged, beaten and raped at the hands of a grooming gang active since the 1980s.

Allegations are said to have been mishandled by authorities, with many perpetrators going unpunished, while it is claimed similar abuse continues in the area.

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

Telford's Conservative MP, Lucy Allan, has previously called for a Rotherham-style inquiry into the allegations and called the latest reports "extremely serious and shocking".

"There must now be an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford so that our community can have absolute confidence in the authorities," she told the paper.

Twelve victims spoke to the newspaper and accused more than 70 abusers. One, a 14-year-old, said that she became pregnant twice and had two abortions while being groomed and abused.

"Hours after my second termination, I was taken by one of my abusers to be raped by more men", she said.

"Night after night, I was forced to have sex with multiple men in disgusting takeaways and filthy houses. I must have been getting the morning after pill from a local clinic at least twice a week but no one asked any questions.

"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."

One victim, Lucy Lowe, 16, died alongside her mother and sister after the man who had been abusing her, 26-year-old Azhar Ali Mehmood, set fire to their house.

The taxi-driver first targeted Lucy in 1997. She gave birth to his child when she was just 14.

Mehmood was jailed for murdering Lucy, her mother Eileen and her sister Sarah, 17.

However, he was never arrested or charged with any sex abuse crimes over his involvement with the young girl.

A newspaper advertising board outside a corner shop in the Lancashire town of Rochdale after nine men were arrested for child sexual exploitation on January 11, 2011. Photo / Getty

Another victim, who was drugged and gang raped by nine men two years later, said that Lucy's death was used as a warning to other girls who might speak out.

The schoolgirl, who remains anonymous, said she was driven to try to kill herself.

"I was scared my family would die like Lucy's. I thought they'd only be safe if I killed myself," she told the Sunday Mirror.

In 2002 another schoolgirl was killed in an unexplained car accident in Telford.

Becky Watson, 13, was killed after a car she was in crashed. At the time the incident was reported as a "prank".

However, it was revealed she had suffered two years of sex abuse at the hands of a grooming gang, which began when she was 11.

In tragic diary entries she told of how she was forced to "sleep around".

Her mother, Torron Watson, went to the police on a number of occasion and even handed them a list of suspects.

But nothing was done.

She said: "Girls like Becky were treated like criminals. I was crying out for help but it felt like I had nowhere to turn. If Becky's abuse had been properly investigated by the authorities more girls could have been saved from going through this hell."

Vicky Round, a friend of Becky's, was abused by the same gang.

They forced her into a crack cocaine addiction aged 12.

By 14 she was taking heroine regularly.

She died aged 20 after a suspected drug overdose.

A general view over the Lancashire town of Rochdale after 10 men faced alleged charges of child sexual exploitation in 2015. Photo / Getty

In Rotherham around 1400 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.

An estimate of the number of victims in Telford was calculated with the help of Professor Liz Kelly, from the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University, who reviewed the Mirror's figures.

Dino Nocivelli, a specialist child abuse solicitor, said: "These children were treated as sexual commodities by men who inflicted despicable acts of abuse. The survivors deserve an inquiry.

"They need to know how abuse took place for so long and why so many perpetrators have never been brought to justice."

Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police inquiry into child prostitution in the Telford area.

Mubarek Ali, 34, sold teenage girls, some as young as 13, for sex above an Indian restaurant in Telford, Shropshire, after grooming them.

His brother Ahdel Ali, 27, was handed a 26-year sentence after the pair sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted or tried to prostitute four teenagers.

The paper says authorities were warned of the abuse a decade before Operation Chalice.

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.

"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?"

A spokesperson for Telford and Wrekin Council told the paper: "Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a vile, evil crime. It's an issue right across the UK and has been for a long time.

"Telford will be covered by the national CSE review. We welcome this. All agencies continue to work very closely together and this remains our top priority."

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

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."