Lucy Lowe, 16, was killed with her mum Eileen and 17-year-old sister Sarah in a house fire set by her abuser Azhar Ali Mehmood, 44 (Image: Shropshire Star)

One schoolgirl fell pregnant six times in four years in Telford, Shropshire, where there were up to 1,000 grooming victims over 40 years – including at least three who were murdered.

Geraldine McKelvie

Nick Sommerlad

Two whistleblowers were punished for trying to expose Britain’s worst child abuse scandal which affected up to 1,000 girls for 40 years, the Mirror can reveal today.

A Labour MP last night joined calls for a public inquiry after girls as young as 11 were lured from families to be drugged, beaten and raped in an epidemic that, say victims, continues today.

Three were murdered and two others died in tragedies linked to the scandal.

As our case histories show, many were ignored after reporting rapes to police.

But, despite similar high-profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham, authorities in Telford did nothing for years to stop the horrific abuse network exposed yesterday by The Sunday Mirror.

Hundreds of victims have been failed. Police even told one victim they had destroyed evidence of her rape claim after they tried to contact her.

A council-commissioned report told how social workers knew of the child sex crimes in the late 90s. And in 2016, whislteblowing police chaplain Keith Osmund-Smith was suspended after passing papers to the Mirror.

We asked police what was done about allegations of abuse in the 150-page report and they said they had not been properly logged.

A second whistleblower employed by Axis Counselling – a charity helping sex abuse victims – was forced to leave her post after speaking out.

Notes of her disciplinary meeting show officials admitted she had done nothing wrong but feared funding from authorities would be cut if she kept expressing views about the lack of action over the scandal by the council and police.

The majority of Axis Counselling’s funding comes from West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, John Campion – a vocal critic of an MP and the Sunday Mirror’s push for a Rotherham-style inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Telford.In September 2016, Tory MP for Telford, Lucy Allan, called for an inquiry after an abuse victim told her that many of the worst offenders had not been prosecuted and still lived in the area.

The same month, Tory Campion and nine others on the Labour-run council wrote to Home Secretary Amber Rudd, saying the inquiry was not necessary.

The whistleblowers’ concerns came on top of complaints from victims who were ignored or treated like criminals.

Becky Watson, 13, died in a car crash described as a “prank”. But she had suffered two years of abuse by an Asian grooming gang.

Her mum Torron Watson said she repeatedly told police Becky was being abused and named suspects.

But, she said: “Girls like Becky were treated like criminals.”

In another case, Lucy Lowe, 16, was killed with her mum Eileen and 17-year-old sister Sarah in an a house fire set by her abuser Azhar Ali Mehmood, 44.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/werent-saved-whistleblowers-silenced-trying-12170716?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=EM_Mirror_Nletter_DailyNews_News_smallteaser_Image_Story2&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter

Art is important when it gives the possibility for people to grow up, Italian sculptor Davide Dormino told RT. He has launched a campaign to raise money to erect a “monument to courage” – a statue of three whistleblowers, Assange, Manning, and Snowden.

The founder of the Frontline Club, Vaughan Smith, and his team were inspired to create the monument after Smith got to know Julian Assange, and “got to see some of the documents that he was releasing from Bradley Manning.”

“I felt that is very important that the public do something to support. The reality is that these whistleblowers are our friends… whistleblowers are sustaining democracies by providing us with accurate information that we are not getting from our rulers,” Smith told RT.

The sculptor, Dormino said that it is going to be a public art project, and in his view art can be political.

“I think it is very important for people to learn from art. Art is important when it gives the possibility to people to grow up,” he said.

The idea of the project – which was developed by Dormino together with American journalist Charles Glass first popped up about a year ago, he said.

The life-size bronze statues of Assange, Snowden, and Manning standing on chairs almost as if they were speaking out will also have an empty fourth chair.

“That is empty for reason,” said Smith. “We are hoping that a member of the public can stand on that … it is a manner in which we can participate in it,” he added. The monument is Dormino’s vision and it is really “a way for public involvement.”

Smith believes that we are living in the “PR century” that is why “we have so much reliance on these whistleblowers.”

“These whistleblowers have ruined their lives for us and I think it is time for us to respond and the world is full of people who wish to respond and to support them,” said the journalist.

He argues that the project will be welcomed by people who support whistleblowers and appreciate what they have done for them.

Dormino said that anyone happy to share the idea should give money. “We also are using crowd funding and people give money for this. I think that they will be happy because everyone of us wants to be courageous and courage is contagious. People need to do something different if we want to have something different,” he told RT.

Smith claims that the project is going well. He said that if they continue to get support they will confidently reach the £100,000 they need. “We have had a good start but there is more to do. We need people to continue supporting it,” he told RT.

“I think people are a little bit angry. People see that we are getting such poor information from our ruling classes. There are a lot of people out there who want to support, who want to stand on the chair and be counted,” he added.

He believes that it is a way we can communicate with whistleblowers and they are not going to be forgotten.

“We have about £7000 at the moment. We need £100,000,” said Dormino. He also claims that nobody in the team will be paid for their work. “We do this because we believe in an idea,” he added.

Why weren’t they saved? Whistleblowers silenced for trying to expose Britain’s worst ever child sex abuse scandal

Art can be political’ – sculptor of Snowden-Assange-Manning monument