The towns still living in fear of grooming gangs: Parents in areas preyed on by abusers are terrified their children will be targeted next as map reveals shocking scale of scandal

Parents in towns preyed on by grooming gangs say they still live in fear of abusers targeting their children. 

Rotherham and Telford were both epicentres of the scandal, which saw groups of  mostly Pakistani men exploit vulnerable youngsters with impunity before the crisis was finally exposed. 

An interactive map produced by MailOnline shows the shocking extent of the outrage, with at least 41 towns affected across England, from Plymouth and Ramsgate on the south coast to Barrow and Newcastle in the north.

Baroness Louise Casey’s recently published review into the crime wave found public bodies had covered up evidence about Asian grooming gangs for years ‘for fear of appearing racist’.

Sir Keir Starmer has now caved into calls for a national inquiry, which locals in towns where gangs operated believe cannot come soon enough.

An estimated 1,400 children were sexually abused in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, over a period of more than 16 years.

But despite a wave of prosecutions, parents who spoke to MailOnline this week say they still live in daily fear of grooming gangs and are too scared to allow their daughters to get taxis home from nightclubs. 

They blame policing failures, lack of parental supervision among some families, and the dire state of the local economy.

Katrina Tunstill, 36, said: ‘It all needs sorting. It’s been going on for a long time and it may still be going on but they are too sneaky to get caught. 

‘I have a 16-year-old daughter who is just leaving school so things like this make me very concerned for her welfare.’

Mark Pritchard, 51, said: ‘I think it is still going on, but you have to catch them. That’s the problem.

‘What makes me mad is it gives the town such a bad name when these crimes are only committed by a few bad apples. 

‘The trouble is the state of the town means it’s easy for these grooming gangs to operate. And the police can’t help because they’re tied up in red tape.’

Mark Brown, 63, insisted grooming was still an ongoing problem. 

Waving his hand towards a group of teenage girls walking up the street in clubbing gear, he said: ‘You’ve got young lasses who are at risk of grooming, and there’s no way to stop it. No chance.

‘Of course, it’s still going on. I don’t know how it can be stopped.’

Mother Sonia Pritchard, 52, claimed a ‘blind eye’ was still being turned to abusers, while Linda Milner, 74, said she had told her daughter she wanted to move elsewhere. 

Great grandmother Jen Hubbard, 64, also painted a gloomy picture of the reality in today’s Rotherham.

She said: ‘I think it’s still going on. I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, and I think we are losing our culture.

‘Fortunately, my kids have all grown up now, but I kept a close eye on them when they were little and they were never targeted.

‘Our daughter did not start going to nightclubs until she was 21, and her dad used to pick her up every time to take her home.

‘He would not let her get a taxi. I don’t think it’s fair just to blame the police and social services. All they’re doing is doing their job.

‘Parents need to take more responsibility and know where their children are and be vigilant.’

In November 2010, five men were sentenced in Rotherham for depraved sex attacks against girls – some as young as 12.

Razwan Razaq, Umar Razaq, Zafran Ramzan, Mohsin Khan and Adil Hussain were handed sentences lasting between four and 11 years.

Over the next decade almost 50 men – and at least two women – were convicted for similar grooming charges.

An investigation launched by the local council found that 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013 by predominantly British-Pakistani men.

Tony Doyle, 45, who was born and raised in Rotherham, said every time he mentioned the town to people from elsewhere they mentioned its association with grooming. 

‘They ask where you come from and when you tell them, they say ”you come from where the sex gangs and child rapists are”,’ he said. 

In the Shropshire town of Telford, at least three separate groups of men have been convicted after grooming vulnerable victims since 2012.

On October 5, 2012, two Telford brothers were sent to jail for 18 and 14 years after they were found to have sexually abused, trafficked, prostituted or tried to prostitute local girls between 2008 and 2009.

Youngest brother Ahdel Ali, was found guilty of one charge of rape, 11 charges of sexual activity with a child, three charges of controlling child prostitution, one of inciting child prostitution, an allegation of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child after grooming. He was given the longer sentence.

Eldest brother, Mubarek Ali was convicted of four charges of controlling child prostitution, two of trafficking in the UK for sexual exploitation and a charge of causing child prostitution.

Over the next decade convictions were brought against at least 10 men in Telford for similar crimes in 2017 and 2019.

An inquiry was later held into the Telford grooming gangs and its findings released in 2022 found that at least 1,000 girls had been abused in the town.

Yesterday, one mother-of-three who spoke to MailOnline said she wouldn’t let her 13-year-old daughter walk around freely for fear of being targeted by gangs.

Catherine Wood, 37, said: ‘I think it’s scary. It hasn’t gone away for the victims of it, it’s part of their life.

‘I’ve got a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy and they are very happy, they go to school here.

‘This area is lovely, but would I want my children walking around later on by themselves, definitely not. It’s terrifying.

‘I do think it still happens, I think it probably happens everywhere. I think it’s really scary but the education of children about it has really built up.’

On the ethnic aspect to the scandal, she said: ‘I think it’s a real shame as it tars them all with the same brush. Unfortunately all the ones we hear about are of an ethnic background.

‘It’s not about that, but people see that and use that in their racism. But equally you are saying that all of these people are dangerous.’

Tony Morris claims he stopped a grooming gang from abusing a girl while walking around the town centre in the 90s.

The 63-year-old said: ‘It’s still a problem now. I know exactly where they were primed and what they did.

‘They operated all over. One time I was walking by near the station and they had all the cars. I dragged out a driver and said ”you leave those girls alone”.

‘I said you’re procuring them for sex. I said ”get out of that cab and let those girls go”.

‘He had two girls who were about 14 or 15 and I said ”get the f**k out the cab or I will drag you out’.

‘There’s that many places around here, it’s unbelievable, although I haven’t seen it personally locally for a while.’

An Asian businessman who runs a takeaway along Wellington High Street in Telford described seeing ‘shady’ guys walking outside his shop. 

But he insisted the area ‘isn’t bad overall.

‘I see a couple of guys walking around at night, with hoods up. Shady guys. But I don’t know what they do or want,’ he said. 

‘This isn’t a very bad area, I’m not worried at all about these things. I work here and don’t hear a lot about outside.’

Meanwhile, a 26-year-old woman said she lived nearby one of the ringleaders who had recently been released from prison. 

‘He came out of prison a few years ago. He doesn’t come very often but he and his brother visit the house.

‘I don’t think it’s as big as it used to be (grooming) but it could still happen. Likely in the Wellington area. The fact that they’re still there puts me off a lot.’