There has been a widespread concern of child sexual grooming victims in the UK Shropshire area in the town of Telford.

The BBC reported that “West Mercia Police said it was currently working with about 46 people who were victims or at risk.”
The Telegraph has also reported there are currently “46 sexual exploitation cases” being actively investigated, and reported that yet another victim had come forward.  The Telegraph also reported that the West Mercia Police “force said more than 100 girls could have been targeted by the gang between 2007 and 2009.”
In addition, the Sunday Mirror reported that up to 1,000 girls in the Shropshire town could have been victims of child sexual exploitation (CSE) since the 1980s.”
BBC reported that the West Mercia Police Supt Tom Harding stated: “I significantly dispute the 1,000-plus figure, and do feel it is sensationalised.”  The Sunday Mirror report was critical of an alleged internal police memorandum allegedly claiming “in most cases the sex is consensual.”  The Sunday Mirror report quoted concerns by child abuse specialist Dino Nocivelli, reporting: “Some of the victims were just 11 years old and specialist child abuse lawyer Dino Nocivelli said: ‘This is victim blaming at its worst. The authorities just don’t seem to get it. Children cannot agree to sex. Just because a child is not being physically forced to carry out sexual acts, it doesn’t mean they consented.'”

On March 15, 2018, Quilliam Foundation activitist Maajid Nawaz spoke on Sky News stating he was critical of the “drag” and posted on Twitter on March 17, 2018 that he was critical of “politicians’ despicable neglect of the Telford grooming scandal.”

Help and Support. For help and support if you’re a victim of sexual assault contact organizations such as

Rape Crisis (rapecrisis.org.uk) on 0808 802 999
SurvivorsUK (survivorsuk.org) (for men) on SMS: 020 3322 1860
Women’s Aid (womensaid.org.uk) on 0808 2000 247