Campaigners fear that the true figure may be far higher and could exceed the 1,400 victims identified in a report on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham

Hundreds of children in Manchester have been sexually exploited in the latest grooming scandal.

Details of more than 400 victims, linked to 105 crimes and 242 suspects, were reported across Greater Manchester in the ten months to January, and police received 2,286 pieces of information.

Campaigners fear that the true figure may be far higher and could exceed the 1,400 victims identified in a report on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham over a 16-year-period.

The figures come after Ofsted accused Manchester’s children’s services of inadequacy and said that “child sexual exploitation processes are not well embedded in social care teams”. It said “there are insufficient links being made with children who may be sexually exploited”.

Veronica Murphy, a former associate head of two schools for