Rotherham abuse was only tip of a horrible iceberg

THE widespread child sexual exploitation by gangs of Asian men in northern towns exploded after it emerged that more than 1,500 young girls had been targeted by paedophiles in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

- By Paul Jeeves

The "industrial levels of abuse" uncovered led to identical cases being found in multiple other towns including Bradford, Telford, Huddersfield and Rochdale where between 2004 to 2013 hundreds of children were “left at the mercy" of the sex beasts.

Each case mirrored Rotherham where police, schools and social services knew what was going on but failed to intervene because they feared tackling the grooming gangs - who were predominantly of Pakistani heritage and targeted white girls as young as 11 - could be deemed "racist".

Depraved

In many cases the girls were in care or had troubled home lives and they were picked up by taxi drivers and passed around by their abusers after being tricked into believing they were the depraved men's girlfriends.