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The nation was appalled by the extent of child sex abuse in Rotherham, shocked by revelations from Rochdale.

Now an 18-month Sunday Mirror investigation shows Telford could be home to crimes every bit as sickening in their horror. And what is more depressing is that we have uncovered the same litany of failure.

In Rotherham 1,400 children, most of them white girls, were abused, mostly by Asian men.

In Rochdale 19 men were convicted and 47 girls identified as victims of abuse.

Britain’s authorities should have learned lessons from that. What we have discovered shows they have not.

Today we reveal that an estimated 1,000 children have been raped, beaten or sold for sex in Telford over four decades, with five deaths linked to the abuse.

Our investigators pieced together ­allegations of a network of at least 70 abusers operating in the town. According to victims, violent rapes were taking place as recently as two months ago.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Lessons learned? Hardly.

That begs an unpalatable question. Rotherham. Rochdale. Telford. How many more?

Are child abusers lurking in other towns and cities in our land? Are they operating in some of them? Or most of them?

The Government should not rest until they can give them all a clean bill of health.

The Telford authorities have punished whistleblowers while failing to stamp on the criminals.

One whistleblower lost her job. Another was suspended after speaking to us.

A victim claimed police blocked attempts to find out why her abuser had not been ­prosecuted because they were worried she would tell us.

It is the job of a free press to expose wrongdoing. It is not the job of the police to stop us.

This also suggests abuse may be going ­on elsewhere, but turning a blind eye is less troublesome than having it revealed.

The authorities in Telford have historically shied away from doing their public duty because they fear being branded racist. That has also become a familiar story, and it is unacceptable.

Again the lessons of Rotherham have not been learned. A sex abuser is a sex abuser whatever their ethnic background.

Then there is the treatment of the abused themselves. And it is nothing short of disgraceful.

Instead of seeing them as exploited victims, some council staff viewed them as prostitutes.

Lessons learned? Hardly.

Had abuse been properly investigated in the first place, other youngsters could have been protected. Another failure? Absolutely.

The Sunday Mirror will now hand our dossier of shame to the Home Office.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd should act on it immediately. And the way to do that is with a full public inquiry, which the town’s MP Lucy Allan is rightly calling for.

That was ruled out in 2016 because local authorities told the Home Secretary it was not necessary. Ms Rudd must surely see that it is necessary now.