'Use Telford child sex abuse inquiry as a model'

The man who led the inquiry into the Telford child sex abuse scandal believes children are safer today and will be in the future.

Tom Crowther KC has spoken after agreeing to work with the government on five local inquiries in the UK in response to calls for a nationwide review on grooming gangs.

The lawyer told the BBC he was proud of the work done in Telford, following a damning report in 2022, from which more than 40 recommendations had been implemented by last year.

Referring to calls last week for a national inquiry into child-grooming gangs in Oldham, he says that instead the "Telford-style local inquiry is the way to go".

Last Thursday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans for a nationwide review of grooming gang evidence, as well as the five local inquiries.

Oldham will be the first to set up a local review, with four other pilot areas yet to be named.

Mr Crowther told BBC Radio Shropshire he was proud of the work done in Telford, for the town itself.

'Survivors should be involved'

"It's not personal pride. Its pride in the fact that Telford, having been a town that should have been ashamed for what happened 20, 30 years ago, has now turned this around," he said.

The key to a successful review, he said, was to ensure that survivors of the abuse were involved from the beginning.

"Survivors should be involved from the start of the process," he said.

"That's how Telford got its reputation for independence and why its survivors had confidence in the inquiry from the start until the end.

"These were women who were utterly betrayed when they were children by various iterations of Telford Council decades ago.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced that there will be five local inquiries conducted along the lines of the successful model used in Telford after children endured abuse the decades

"But they put all that hurt - all that justifiable pain and resentment aside - to work with the council. Which was a tremendous thing."

The issue of child sexual exploitation was recently put back in the spotlight by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has criticised the prime minister after the option of a national inquiry was rejected.

Instead, Cooper told the House of Commons the government would begin working with Oldham Council by putting up £5m of an overall £10m package to "get work off the ground".

Mr Crowther said he hopes the reviews will take Telford as a model to work from.

"I genuinely believe the children in Telford are safer today and they will be safer in the future as well - that's the result I want across the country," he added.