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Silent voices of the Telford grooming horror can be heard for the first time today – girls who have been unable to speak out for fear of shaming their own families.

And the revelation explodes the vile lies of racist groups who have tried to exploit the vulnerable young victims in a bid to stir up hatred and fear.

Because the Sunday Mirror investigation which exposed the town’s child sex scandal has uncovered a raft of Asian victims – who have kept quiet to save their families being shunned.

One said of the exploitation of the scandal by far-right racists: “It makes me feel girls like me don’t matter, that we haven’t suffered too.”

Experts now say the true scale of the crime, uncovered by this paper four months ago, may never be known – and that the girls’ silence could help some perpetrators to evade justice.

We revealed in March how up to 1,000 victims may have been groomed in the Shropshire town during a horrifying 40-year campaign of abuse.

Five deaths were linked to the shocking epidemic, including the mother and sister of one of the girls, killed alongside her in an arson attack.

(Image: Police handout)

Until now, the abuse victims had been understood to be almost entirely white girls preyed on by Asian gangs.

But we have spoken to a number from both Indian and Pakistani backgrounds who were also targeted.

Some said they still cannot bring themselves to talk to police because they fear judgment and retribution.

One, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, told us: “The first time I was raped, I was only 11. I didn’t even know what sex was.

“I went from being an angel child to staying in bed, wanting to die.

“I’ve still never told my family. If I did, my dad wouldn’t be able to show his face in the mosque.

“It doesn’t just happen to white girls, it happens to us too.”

Child abuse campaigners fear the horror is being exploited by far-right groups for their own ends.

A string of extremist marches have been held in the town since our 18-month probe exposed the scandal.

Holly Archer, who led a campaign for a public inquiry, said: “We’re sick of our ordeals being exploited by far-right groups who don’t care about us, but about their own racist agenda.

“I’ve spoken to several girls from Asian communities who have felt unable to come forward. Children from all backgrounds can be sexually exploited, but those from ethnic minorities are far less likely to tell anyone. It’s time to stand together and show they will be supported.”

Ansar Ali, of Together Against Grooming, has said there could be scores more victims. His campaign group works with Asian communities across Britain to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation.

He said: “It’s no surprise to hear there are Asian victims in Telford.

(Image: BBC)

“Research has shown that only around a third of victims will be represented by official figures. But women from Asian communities are far less likely to come forward.” Ansar added: “There are undoubtedly a disproportionate number of Pakistani men involved, but they have no loyalty to any one community.”

Two Asian girls have told us they were targeted by street grooming gangs, and raped by multiple men throughout their teenage years. One fled Telford in terror after years of hell at the hands of serial predators.

But while some of her attackers were reported to West Mercia Police as part of its 2012 Operation Chalice, which saw eight men jailed, she said some of the worst still walk free.

The woman, 13 when her abuse began, told us: “The police don’t know about me, even though I was raped and abused like all my white friends.

“My life was hell too, but people think these things don’t happen to girls like me because of the colour of our skin. In the end, I had to get out.”

When we urged her to contact the police, she insisted: “I’ll ­probably never tell, it would be so painful for my family.”

(Image: Getty)

But when she sees far-right groups coming to Telford she feels her suffering has been ignored, that girls like her “don’t matter”.

Another girl, now in her 20s, told how she was preyed on by a relative linked to a notorious group of abusers, who raped her from the age of 11.

Like countless others, she was taken to local beauty spot The Wrekin, to be abused away from prying eyes. She said: “The first time, I was 11. He put the bonnet up on his car so passers-by couldn’t see. I was trembling.

“I was in so much pain but I didn’t scream. I felt he’d broken me. He said to go home and bath. After that it was three or four times a week for five years.“

Her abuser is now dead.

Files on another girl, targeted at 15 by two suspected Asian drug dealers, show she fell pregnant four times in six years. Social services, teachers and mental health services were aware of the girl’s plight – but did not inform police.

The Sunday Mirror has seen case notes that show authorities admitted failing on “concerns of physical abuse and sexual exploitation”.

Spin plea on our probe

A key figure in safeguarding children in Telford attacked our investigation in the town, claiming it could stop current victims from coming forward.

Andrew Mason, who chairs the area’s Safeguarding Children Board, claimed in an email our 18 months of research had been conducted “on the back of a fag packet”.

He made his comments as he begged a journalist from news website The Huffington Post to write a positive story about how child sex abuse in the town was handled.

(Image: Roland Leon/Sunday Mirror)

In an email seen by the Sunday Mirror under a Freedom of Information request, Mr Mason admits “terrible things happened in Telford” and “many mistakes were made in the past”. But in an astonishing outburst he added: “Perhaps as I write this a sexually abused young person in our community, plucking up the courage to come forward, might see what is being said, change their minds and say nothing.”

In fact, the week we exposed the scandal more than a dozen girls told police for the first time of their abuse. Our story also prompted a public inquiry.

Meanwhile Telford and Wrekin Council, led by Councillor Shaun Davies, has hired a PR expert to help revamp its image. Council officials were told the appointment of Jan Jennings would help press officers with “strategic messaging and reputational recovery.”

Our shock findings force police to go after the abusers

Police have launched a new probe into child sexual exploitation in Telford as a result of the Sunday Mirror’s expose.

Sources in the West Mercia force have confirmed a fresh operation will focus on “non recent” cases of abuse in the Shropshire town.

More than a dozen brave women came forward to tell cops about their own abuse ordeals the week after we published the shock findings of our 18-month investigation.

It forced the local authority to order a public inquiry into a repeated failure by the authorities to stamp out networks of abusers who have preyed on young girls for four decades. The new police investigation has been launched to bring the perpetrators to justice.

This newspaper first asked for a probe in 2016. Then 10 police and council officials wrote to the home office to say it wasn’t necessary.

But in a major U-turn Labour- run Telford and Wrekin Council agreed in April to the inquiry.

Independent groups have now been invited to bid for a contract to appoint a chair and set the terms of reference for the inquiry, which is expected to begin its work later this year.

Horrifying scandal unfolded over 40 years

1980s: Predatory abusers start to target vulnerable girls in Telford, picking them up on the streets and outside a children’s home. One girl falls pregnant after being abused and passed around several men, but when she tells her doctor of the abuse he dismisses her as mentally ill.

1996: A concerned resident tells police about ringleader Shahzad “Keith” Khan, whom she suspects of abusing and selling Telford teenagers. She says her claims were not followed up.

Late 1990s: Social workers become aware of the abuse, but a council-commissioned report later claims they failed to act because they did not understand the problem.

2000: Lucy Lowe, 16, is killed in a house fire set by cabbie Azhar Ali Mehmood, now 44, who made her pregnant at just 14. Lucy’s mum and sister also die. Mehmood was later jailed for life for the murders. Another schoolgirl tells murder cops that Mehmood groomed her too, but no abuse probe is launched.

2002: Becky Watson, 13, dies in a car accident described as “a prank”. Tragic diaries reveal Becky had endured two years of rape hell prior to her death.

2009: Becky’s friend Vicky Round dies, aged 20, in a drugs incident. Her family say grooming gangs got her hooked on crack at 12 and heroin at 14.

2013: The police’s Operation Chalice, which identified 200 men suspected of raping young Telford girls, produces just eight convictions.

August 2016: The Sunday Mirror reports that the exploitation problem is continuing outside underage discos in the town, and that cops have failed to log abuse reports from concerned street pastors.

September 2016: Telford’s Tory MP Lucy Allan asks PM Theresa May to launch an independent inquiry into abuse in Telford. Ten police and council officials tell the Home Office a probe is not needed.

March 2018: The Sunday Mirror publishes the results of its 18-month investigation into child sexual exploitation in Telford, which links five deaths to the abuse and reveals there could be up to 1,000 victims over four decades. Our story prompts more than a dozen girls to go to police.

April 2018: Telford councillors vote unanimously to commission an independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation following our revelations.

June 2018: Telford and Wrekin Council invites independent bodies to apply to commission a chair for the inquiry, expected to start in the autumn.