'Police force is ashamed' Up to 373 girls may have been sex abuse victims in Oxfordshire

A POLICE FORCE is "ashamed" of its shortcomings after it was revealed that as many as 373 girls may have been sexually abused in its region, its boss said.

Pic of Sara ThorntonAFP/GETTY IMAGES

Sara Thornton says Thames Valley Police is ashamed of itself

We are ashamed of the shortcomings identified in this report and we are determined to do all we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.

Sara Thornton

Thames Valley Police's Chief Constable, Sara Thornton, apologised to victims of sexual abuse in Oxfordshire after a report released today revealed authorities failed to recognise the scale of sexual abuse in the county.

She said: "We are ashamed of the shortcomings identified in this report and we are determined to do all we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

Ms Thornton admitted the report, written by investigator Alan Bedford, showed the police could have identified child sexual exploitation before it did, and that 'many errors were made'.

She also apologised to victims and their family.

The Bedford report says that as many as 373 potential victims of child sex abuse have been identified in the last 16 years.

It also says the scale of the abuse was not recognised and opportunities to deal with it were missed.

Victims were groomed using drugs, alcohol and gifts before they were physically assaulted, forced into prostitution, raped and drugged, the report said.

Their abusers kept them "hooked in" by making the girls dependent on alcohol and drugs, which they then "paid for" with sex.

However, investigations into the response of organisations including Oxfordshire County Council and Thames Valley Police found that victims' accounts were not believed or they were seen as exaggerated.

The review was ordered in 2012 after seven men were convicted of a string of child sex offences against teenage girls.

The report said: "What happened to the child victims of the sexual exploitation in Oxfordshire was indescribably awful.

"The child victims and their families feel very let down. Their accounts of how they perceived professional work are disturbing and chastening."

Jim Leivers, Oxfordshire County Council's director for children, education and families, said the council "made many mistakes and missed opportunities to stop the abuse".

In a statement, Oxford City Council said the report "shows very clearly that the girls were badly let down by the people and organisations that could - and should - have protected them".

The statement said: "The dreadful experiences faced by these young women can never be put right. But the safeguarding board is now in a much better position to prevent, disrupt and detect these crimes."

The Bedford report also found:

*The issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) was not properly understood, nor was national guidance followed.

*There was 'insufficient curiosity' into what was happening to the girls.

*Not enough was done to investigate the abusers.

*There was not enough to take concerns about abuse to the top of organisations.

In response to the question "Could CSE have been identified or prevented earlier?", the report said: "The simple answer is yes."

It concluded: "A group of approximately 370 girls and young women have been identified as possible victims of sexual exploitation within the last 16 years."

Maggie Blyth, independent chair of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB), said that "systemic failings" between 2005 and 2010 and "unacceptable delays" in tackling the issue of CSE "allowed offenders to get away with their crimes".

She said: "It is shocking that these children were subjected to such appalling sexual exploitation for so long.

"On behalf of the OSCB I would like to apologise for how long it took organisations in Oxfordshire to see what was happening to these children and bring perpetrators to justice.

"It is clear that between 2005 and 2010, despite the efforts of some front line staff working with children individually, there was no understanding of the type of abuse which later emerged, a culture across all organisations that failed to see that these children were being groomed in an organised way by groups of men and therefore no concerted or organised response across Oxfordshire agencies working with children against this terrible child abuse."

A joint statement from NHS organisations in Oxfordshire expressed "regret that the abuse was not uncovered and information acted on sooner".

It said: "What happened to these children is truly awful. While the review finds no evidence of 'misconduct' by the organisations involved, there are clearly areas for improvement in terms of being able to recognise signs of abuse and sharing information."

Out of the seven men convicted for abuse, five were of Pakistani origin.

However, unlike the Rotherham sex scandal - where girls were abused by gangs of Asian men - there was nothing to suggest the abuse was deliberately ignored in order to avoid charges of racism.

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