And a Birmingham Mail investigation has discovered how police, councils and social services have been failing vulnerable victims in a new abuse scandal which follows those identified in Rotherham, Rochdale and Derbyshire.
The shocking statistics are contained in a confidential report from West Midlands Police.
Another report identified 111 youngsters at risk of child sexual exploitation in Birmingham last year, with the youngest aged just 11, and almost half of them under 15 years old.
The Children’s Society has also previously warned that vulnerable children were being taken to hotels in the West Midlands and abused by gangs after being plied with drugs and alcohol.
The Mail has discovered how children across the region have been failed by police, councils and social services – with some known offenders not being prosecuted and victims being locked away in secure accommodation to protect them.
The sickening situation was revealed by Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) in a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Prevention and Intervention Strategy published in September 2013. It was sent to partner agencies, including West Midlands Police, but was never issued to the media.
It said: “The partnership arrangements in Birmingham are currently failing to protect our children from child sexual exploitation.
“Perhaps the clearest indicator of this is reflected in that at the time of writing this strategy, there are three young people, the victims of child sexual exploitation, who are subject to a Secure Accommodation Order whilst the perpetrators of these horrific crimes remain at liberty and continue to target other children. The absence of the prosecutions of these offenders is startling.
“Partner inaction may indicate that there is sometimes a reluctance to use the statutory powers available to them, and this is unacceptable.”
But the ethnic make-up of the child sex groomers could cause the biggest controversy, as it seemingly mirrors the problem of Asian gangs targeting young girls in places like Oxford, Rochdale and Rotherham, where an estimated 1,400 children were abused over 16 years after public body failings.
How West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council are now trying to tackle sickening abuse of young girls
Children's charities playing leading role in fight against child sexual exploitation
A report to Sandwell Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) last year drew on an official West Midlands Police ‘profile’ – an in-depth intelligence-based report on Child Sexual Exploitation which revealed how the Asian gangs were targeting white girls with on-street grooming.
The force produced the report in 2012, with a sanitised version given to safeguarding boards in the region. Neither the original report nor the sanitised version were placed in the public domain.
A report to SSCB last year referred to the sanitised police version and disclosed for the first time that Asian gangs are preying on young white girls in West Midlands communities through on-street grooming – the term used to describe children in the UK being targeted by men for sexual abuse.
This can be anything from being offered gifts from older boys to being asked to attend ‘parties’ with older men, where they are abused.
The Sandwell Safeguarding report stated: “Intelligence suggests that of potential suspects identified, 75 per cent of those known are of Asian ethnicity.
“This has mirrored other forces’ experiences of known offenders and, as we have seen from the Derbyshire, Lancashire and Rochdale cases, has the potential to impact on trust and confidence within local communities across the West Midlands.”
The report added that 82 per cent of victims were white girls aged between 14 and 16, with 80 per cent having been reported as missing more than once, and 38 per cent having been in care.
At the time of writing its report in September last year, Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board said there were currently 111 young people known to be at risk of grooming and child sexual exploitation.
Two per cent of victims were aged 11; one per cent aged 12; five per cent were 13; 11 per cent aged 14, and 29 per cent were 15. Of the other victims, 21 per cent were aged 16; 24 per cent were 17; six per cent aged 18, and one per cent aged 19.
Yet the BSCB admitted that total abuse numbers could not be calculated.
“Whilst there is some understanding of hot spots, victim profile and trends within Birmingham, the partners do not yet have an adequate understanding of the size of the problem of which the local community is facing with regards to CSE, nor is enough known around the totality around the number of victims and perpetrators,’’ the report said.
“The need to target, prosecute and disrupt those sexual predators who are responsible for the grooming and exploitation of children and young people is paramount.
“Given the under-reported nature of child sexual exploitation, it is crucial that young people, families and carers, professionals and the community share intelligence on perpetrators, no matter how insignificant the information may seem, with the authorities.
“How authorities deal with, analyse and make connections with that perpetrator intelligence is vital, as is the timely feedback to those partners to use that analysis to co-ordinate prevention work, victim safety planning and disruption and prosecution of perpetrators.
“Given the research from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner within CSE and the link with gangs in Birmingham, the interface between CSE screening and referrals into MAGU (Multi-Agency Gang Unit) is crucial.’’
Missing children are more at risk of falling into the clutches of the abusers, the report added, with some estimates saying 80 per cent of victims had been runaways at some point – and almost 40 per cent had been, or were, in care.
The Mail has previously highlighted the problems of children in care repeatedly going missing. In November 2012, we told how children had disappeared from state-run and private care homes almost 6,000 times in four years, including one who had run away 96 times.
We told how Birmingham and other local authorities in the region were breaking Government orders, in place since 2009, by failing to offer all runaways ‘return interviews’ which could have picked up complaints of sexual abuse.
The BSCB report said 216 under 17s were reported missing between April 1 and June 30 last year, adding: “We know that there is a clear link between children who go missing and the risk of child sexual exploitation.”
The full scale of the abuse has not been revealed, but the force said last month that it was currently dealing with 57 live child sexual exploitation cases, 130 suspected cases, and 67 investigations involving online sexual offences against children.
Meanwhile, last autumn, the Children’s Society revealed the organised nature of the grooming gangs.
It said: “Recent high-profile cases of child sexual exploitation – such as in Oxford and Rochdale – have involved children being groomed or exploited in hotels, restaurants and other commercial premises.
“The Children’s Commissioner’s inquiry on child sexual exploitation in groups and gangs last year identified hotels, bed and breakfasts, shops and food outlets as key locations in which abuse takes place.
“A forerunner to the campaign pack was developed in the West Midlands, in response to concerns that the Olympics could see a rise in child sexual exploitation. A number of young people supported by The Children’s Society project in the area mentioned being taken to ‘hotel parties’, where they were given drugs and alcohol and then sexually abused.
“In response, The Children’s Society, West Midlands Police, Coventry Community Safety Team and other local charities contacted hotels in the city and ran awareness-raising sessions for staff.”
If you have been a victim of child sexual exploitation and would like to talk to us in confidence, please email Jeanette Oldham on jeanette.oldham@trinitymirror.com. Or call newsdesk on 0121 234 5536/5564 and ask to speak to Jeanette Oldham.
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SANDWELL
There were said to be 35 young people identified as being at risk of being sexually exploited between April 2012 and March last year. A report to the Safeguarding Board said: “The 35 children were provided with a support plan and targeted intervention to reduce the risk of harm. By improving recognition among professionals in Sandwell it is likely that we will see a significant increase in these numbers.’’
SOLIHULL
A Child Sexual Exploitation steering group conducted a review in January 2014 and identified two postcodes with the highest number of victims – one in the north of the borough. Skipping school was said to be a ‘significant factor’ in known victims.
WALSALL
The average age of children referred to professionals in the last year was between 15 to 17 years old. Between April 2012 and March 2013 there were 14 young people identified as being at risk of or being sexually exploited. They were provided with a ‘‘holistic support plan and targeted intervention to reduce the risk of harm.’’
FAILINGS
Failings have been identified by both BSCB and SSCB. They include:
* Victim safety was either not in place or lacked multi-agency commitment and effective co-ordination;
* Disruption planning focused on victim behaviour not perpetrator behaviour, including using out of area placements and secure accommodation orders;
* Opportunities were missed with regards to sharing information around perpetrators where a prosecution could not be secured, such as the use of civil injunctions and licensing practices;
* There had been a lack of work to tackle peer on peer grooming;
* The use of ‘emotive and blaming language’ between professionals, and
* No Sexual Assault Referral Centre had been provided at the time for children in the West Midlands; in Sandwell, children under 16 are seen in a NHS paediatric outpatient clinic, which is not forensically secure.
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