Nick Ferrari: 'Decent Asian families' let down by Telford abuse report
13 July 2022, 09:54
Nick Ferrari reacts to damning Telford abuse report
An inquiry into 'shocking' police and council failings around the sexual abuse of around 1,000 girls in Telford lets down 'decent Asian families' in the town.
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Unnecessary suffering and even deaths of children might have been avoided had West Mercia Police (WMP) "done its most basic job" in acting on reports of sexual exploitation, according to findings published on Tuesday.
For decades child sexual exploitation "thrived" in the Shropshire town and went "unchecked" because of failures to investigate offenders and protect children amid fears that probes into Asian men would "inflame racial tensions".
Read more: Telford: 1,000 children sexually abused after police failed to probe due to racism fears
"These girls were seen as easy prey for gangs of – and this has to be said – largely Asian men," Nick Ferrari stated, observing the findings of the report.
He believed that ordinary members of the Asian community in Telford will be disproportionately affected by the findings of the report.
"The people who are let down the most are decent Asian families living in Telford. I cannot imagine who would want these men convicted more than these decent Asian families trying to live their lives as anyone else, putting their kids through school, keeping their heads down, going on holiday once a year or whatever else it might be.
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Chair of the Independent Inquiry into the Telford child sex abuse
"The idea now that their community can now be seen to have been labelled in this way is shocking for them. That is why action needs to be taken."
Read more: Failures behind Rotherham child abuse scandal revealed as 1,400 girls let down by police
Nick went on to scoff at the notion that taking action against sexual abusers would enflame racial tensions in the Shropshire town, asking whether Telford historically has a culture of racial tension.
"The great race riots of Telford?! I'm sorry, I must have been away, I must have missed that."
He finished his observation by hitting out at the police culture of "blaming the girls" who were exploited by these men, where they were even described as child prostitutes.
"There's no such thing as child prostitutes – what were the police thinking?"
