LAWYER'S GRAPHIC REPORT OF REALITY OF CHILD SEX ABUSE

A BARRISTER and Birmingham councillor gave graphic examples of child victims of abuse who were ignored or their experiences diminished by officials during a harrowing debate at Birmingham's council.

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

Cllr Sam Forsyth, who represents Quinton, spoke as the council discussed calls for a statutory national inquiry into group-based child sex exploitation.

Cllr Forsyth, formerly a Labour member but now Independent, said: "I was professionally involved in Telford, Nottingham and Oxford and I bear the scars of those cases. There is no excuse.

"I've heard every single excuse in the book - from teachers who didn't believe the child that came in with blood pouring down their legs, to police who decided, when a child was presenting at 3am and aged only 12, that was OK because she was in care.

"I heard from a British Transport Police officer: 'they get what they deserve if they're out late at night.' It is never excusable. Children are children."

Cllr Forsyth welcomed the recommendations of an audit by Baroness Louise Casey, which the Home Secretary said identified 'a deep-rooted failure to treat children as children'.