Children at risk from sex gangs ‘in every town’

The expert who laid bare the gang-rapes of hundreds of children by Asian predators has issued a chilling warning that thousands more are at risk.

Professor Alexis Jay said young girls were still being groomed, threatened and raped in “every town and village” across the country.

The former inspector of Scotland’s social workers was speaking after publishing a damning report which sent shock waves throughout Britain.

She revealed at least 1,400 children in Rotherham some as young as 11 were raped systematically by gangs of Asian men.

But she warned: “There is no question that this is still happening and will carry on because there is a demand for sex with children.

“It is happening in every town and village in the country.”

Prof Jay suggested a national legal requirement for local authorities and the police to report child sexual exploitation.

She said: “It would certainly help to place the scale of the problem across the country because at this time, we simply don’t know.”

Hundreds were raped by predatory Asian men after being groomed and showered with gifts of booze and drugs.

Professor Jay said: “It was not that they didn’t care but they were utterly overwhelmed by what was going on and they didn’t get the support they needed.”

Police often did not consider the girls victims of sex abuse even arresting one in an abuser’s home for being drunk.

Senior staff in the council were nervous of tackling the problem of Asian gangs exploiting the girls for fear of being branded racist. That was despite some of the victims’ parents pleading with the authorities to stop the sex beasts grooming and raping their children.

Professor Jay said: “I have a huge amount of sympathy with the efforts the parents were making but in many instances, these children were distressed.

“There were threats against their families if they didn’t let their girls go out and be exploited by these groups of men.”

Last night, Rotherham’s Labour MP Sarah Champion said one of the most upsetting aspects of the scandal was that babies born to some victims were taken away and were never seen by their mothers again. She said: “That speaks volumes about the way these children weren’t seen as victims at all.”