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The horrors of Huddersfield are hard to hear. Another town tainted on a growing list of shame.

Another 15 children raped, abused and trafficked by yet another ruthless gang of 20 paedophiles.

Rotherham, Telford, Rochdale, Oxford, Newcastle, Aylesbury, Huddersfield - when, and where, will this all end?

Not soon that’s for sure in a land where vulnerable children are easy meat for evil gangs browbeating them into a fearful silence with terrifying threats.

Sammy Woodhouse, abused as a teenager in Rotherham, gave us her experienced verdict: “I don’t think we’ll ever be able to stop this. It’s an epidemic and the UK is a paedophile’s paradise.”

And Sara Rowbotham, the sexual health worker who uncovered the Rochdale scandal, could offer no hope.

(Image: huddersfieldugc)

“The numbers in Huddersfield will be the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

“I’m more worried about the towns and cities where there HAVEN’T been any court cases.

“Because if they haven’t identified this crime in your town, then you are not looking hard enough.”

I have investigated child sexual exploitation in the UK for the Sunday Mirror for almost three years, and each story I hear is more sickening than the last.

The authorities want us to believe this is an historic problem.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. Just 15 miles from Huddersfield, in Bradford, the local council received a staggering 1,153 child sexual exploitation referrals in the year to April 2017.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Police there are in the midst of Operation Dalesway which has already seen 109 perpetrators seized. At least 70 more are likely to follow in coming months.

In Telford, a Sunday Mirror probe revealed up to 1,000 girls could have been attacked over four decades.

Abuse was also linked to five deaths. Police in the Shropshire town have launched a new investigation as a result of our findings and Telford and Wrekin council will soon hold a public inquiry.

Yet on Saturday they refused to give us current victim numbers despite a freedom of information request.

In Rotherham, where Sammy was one of 1,500 girls targeted between 1997 and 2013, the police probe is so vast some victims could face a five-year wait for justice.

Earlier this year, the National Crime Agency had to ask for 100 more officers after specially trained detectives had been able to contact less than a fifth of those abused.

Sammy, 33, who now delivers seminars on child sexual exploitation across the UK, has been contacted by thousands of traumatised victims.

Yet she can’t see an end to the crisis.

(Image: SWNS.com)

She said: “Government and agencies are out of their depth. It’s really sad to see just how many people have gone through what I have, but it’s rife all over the country.

“We constantly hear lessons have been learned, but it keeps happening. How many professionals have been held to account, not just for turning a blind eye to this issue but for actually covering it up?”

Sara added most women exploited as children will never get justice because so few cases come to court.

She said: “In Huddersfield, 15 victims might seem a lot but there will be so many others who can’t go through the judicial process.

“Some will have mental health issues or they may be addicted to substances. Others may still be involved with perpetrators.”

Both Sara and Sammy believe the only way to stem the flow of grooming gangs is to teach boys about consent and respect for women.

Sara said: “This is about how those men view these girls as having no value.”

Maggie Oliver, the Rochdale detective who quit to speak openly about police failures and grooming, said: “Nothing will change unless public sector workers are held to account for failing these children.

“If they knew they were going to lose their pension for failing kids, they would make sure they addressed this problem.”

(Image: BBC)

Gift that gave Girl A the courage to help nail Huddersfield paedos

By Phil Cardy and Stephanie Finnegan

A vulnerable victim whose evidence helped cage Britain’s biggest grooming gang only found the courage to come forward after a chilling gift from her suspicious mum.

She spilled out her years of hell after reading her ‘present’ – a book about the Rochdale paedophile ring – and became Girl A in a case which saw 20 mainly Pakistani men caged for attacks on 15 girls in a seven year reign of terror in Huddersfield.

Her story can now be told after a judge lifted reporting restrictions following three trials.

Girl A told a court she was first approached by ringleader Amere Singh Dhaliwal, 35, and two other men at the town’s bus station on her way to school at 13.

She and her friends were offered cigarettes and alcohol.

“Once you were in you just couldn’t get out of it,” she said.

Girl A was raped by Dhaliwal countless times and passed around his pals until she fell pregnant and was deemed “too old”.

She was driven to houses or a reservoir in a black Micra where she was plied with drink and drugs before attacks.

Through her at least six other girls were brought into the ring. When she fell pregnant, Dhaliwal threatened to kill her if she didn’t abort the baby.

She turned to crime and ended up in jail where her mother, in despair at her daughter’s downward spiral, gave her ‘Girl A: The Truth About the Rochdale Sex Ring By the Victim Who Stopped Them’.

After reading it she called her mum and asked: “How did you know?”

The mum told court it was down to “a mother’s instinct”.

Dhaliwal, 35, got life with a minimum 18 years for charges including 22 rapes, involving 11 girls.

In total 20 men – who used nicknames like Chiller, Dracula and Bully were jailed for attacks on girls as young as 11.