THE family of a victim of child grooming in Telford was told her abuser would not be prosecuted because she “consented” to sex – despite her being aged between 13 and 15 and the time.

The Crown Prosecution Service wrote a letter to the father saying she had consented to sex even though “she may not have wanted sexual intercourse”.

4 Despite one child abuse victim in Telford being between the ages of 13 and 15 the CPS said they would not prosecute the alleged man Credit: Alamy

Prosecutors feared a jury might say the alleged abuser had a “reasonable belief” the girl was 16 and had consented.

The girl had been groomed by a gang in Telford, Shropshire and did “not have the capacity to consent, her local Conservative MP Lucy Allan said.

The letter, written in 2016, said: “The defence that was put forward in this case was that she willingly met the suspect and had consensual sexual intercourse with him.

Also that at the time this took place, the suspect held a reasonable belief that she was over the age of 16.

4 Telford MP Lucy Allan said the new documents show the authorities are still failing young girls in the town Credit: Press Association Images

In her statements to the police she was clear that although she may not have wanted sexual intercourse with the suspect, she agreed to do so.”

The admission was revealed after a file was passed to the Home Office.

Ms Allan claims those documents show the authorities are still failing young girls in the town and failing to tackle the problem.

She told Sky News: “This is a grooming case. This is where a gang, a network is involved. There are multiple perpetrators.

4 Lucy Allan said that girls of that age did not have the 'capacity to consent' to sex Credit: Alamy

“And to use that defence in that type of case suggests to me that people in authority do not fully understand the nature of grooming and…the way in which a young person of 13 or 14 does not have the capacity to consent in a situation like that.”

Ms Allan added: “I think it’s really important in Telford that we open our eyes…Until we understand what’s happened and what’s gone wrong, we won’t be able to change the attitudes that the young girls are to blame.”

In 2013, several men from Telford were jailed for organised abuse offences but recently more evidence about alleged victims has come to light and it is now feared at least 1,000 girls have been preyed upon, possibly stretching back to 1981, in one of Britain's worst cases of child sex abuse.

In light of the recent allegations there have been fresh calls for an examination into the failures in the town and the possibility that cases were not properly looked into.

A CPS spokesman said: “This case did not meet the evidential test as set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors and hence we decided not to prosecute the suspect.”

Last week, the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said it will speak to victims in Telford.

4 It's claimed that council staff viewed the trafficked children as 'prostitutes' instead of victims (stock image) Credit: Getty - Contributor

The latest revelation comes after it was revealed officers investigating one of Britain's worst child abuse scandals were reportedly sent an internal message saying: "In most cases the sex is consensual".

But their nightmare ordeal went on for decades as authorities repeatedly failed to stamp out a network of paedophiles in the town.

The memo was reportedly sent by West Mercia Police to detective probing the claims in 2013 - a year after the investigation into grooming gangs ended.

Social workers were said to have known about the offending as far back as in the 1990s, but it took police a decade to launch a probe.

One of the victims was just 15-years-old when she was targeted by abusers in 2004, becoming pregnant several times in four years.

She had three abortions and one miscarriage.

Vulnerable Lucy Lowe was 16 when abuser Azhar Ali Mehmood, 26, set fire to her house, killing her, her mum Eileen and sister Sarah, 17, in 2000.

The taxi driver first targeted her in 1997. She was 14 when she gave birth to his daughter.

He was jailed for killing the teen, along with her mum Eileen and her sister Sarah, 17 – but was never arrested or charged over sex abuse.

Another victim, who was drugged and gang-raped, said Lucy's killing was a warning to others who might speak out.

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The schoolgirl, who remains anonymous, said she was driven to attempt suicide.

In 2002 another schoolgirl – Becky Watson, 13 – was killed in an unexplained car accident in the Shropshire town.

Despite the crash being recorded at the time as a “prank” gone wrong, it later emerged she had reportedly been abused by an Asian grooming gang since she was 11.

Becky’s friend Vicky Round was abused by the same gang, who got her hooked on crack cocaine at 12 and heroin by 14.

Telford victim reveals abuse that forced her into two abortions before she was 18

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