THEY RAPED MORE THAN 1,000 CHILDREN IN TELFORD. SOME WERE 11. LUCY LOWE WAS 14 WHEN SHE HAD A CHILD BY THE MAN WHO WAS ABUSING HER. SHE WAS 15 AND PREGNANT AGAIN WHEN HE SET FIRE TO HER HOME AND BURNED HER TO DEATH WITH HER MOTHER, HER SISTER AND HER UNBORN CHILD. AFTER HER MURDER THE MEN USED HER NAME TO KEEP THE OTHER GIRLS QUIET, TELLING THEM THEY WOULD BE NEXT IF THEY EVER SPOKE.
The police and the council knew what was being done to those girls and left them to it for another twenty years. When the truth finally came out, the Labour leader of the council wrote to the Home Secretary to stop an inquiry. The man who tried to stop it went on to become MP. He has now been promoted to Labour Government Whip.
In July 2022, Tom Crowther KC's independent inquiry concluded that an estimate of up to 1,000 children sexually exploited over three decades was reasonable, and recorded that those who knew the cases called that figure conservative.
The police, the council and the other agencies had the warning signs in front of them for years and did nothing with them. The girls were written off as prostitutes and blamed for what grown men did to them. Crowther found that nervousness about race had discouraged investigations. The girls had told him the men were Pakistani. He wrote their word down once, as their description, and then gave his own finding as men of "southern Asian heritage". The nervousness he found in the police and the council runs through his own report.
The police knew who the men were. The council knew which girls were being passed between them. Lucy Lowe's murder told the girls of Telford who were thinking of speaking exactly what it would cost them.
Then the council leader tried to stop anyone looking. On 22 September 2016, Shaun Davies, the Labour leader of Telford and Wrekin Council, wrote to the Home Secretary that "we do not feel at this time that a further inquiry is necessary". For two years the council found reasons to say no.
Lucy Allan, Telford's MP at the time, listed them in the Commons. The national inquiry would cover Telford. An inquiry would cost too much. Ofsted had given the council a good report. There was nothing to see. Only after sustained pressure from survivors and campaigners did Telford commission Crowther's investigation.
THE INQUIRY TELFORD GOT HAD NO POWER TO COMPEL A SINGLE WITNESS. THE DETECTIVE WHO RAN THE LUCY LOWE CASE AND THE COUNCIL'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE STAYED AWAY FROM IT.
The survivors asked for a statutory inquiry with the power to summon witnesses. Davies gave them one without it. Crowther took evidence from 170 witnesses.
Eleven people refused to give evidence, provided very limited evidence, or refused permission for their contact details to be passed to Crowther's inquiry.
Another 20 people could not be interviewed. Seven could not be located despite repeated attempts. Another 13 had known contact details but failed to respond despite repeated attempts.
Victor Brownlees, chief executive of Telford & Wrekin Council from 2009 to 2011 and formerly acting director of children's services, declined to meet the inquiry. He submitted a very brief statement by email and said he had retained no council documents after leaving.
Clive Harding, a West Mercia Police Detective Chief Inspector who led the Lucy Lowe triple murder investigation, declined to speak to the inquiry. He argued that the original investigation records contained everything relevant. Crowther wrote to him again, but Harding did not reply.
Geoff Harding, a retired West Mercia Police Detective Chief Inspector who subsequently worked for Telford & Wrekin Council as an Integrated Services Manager supporting children and families, declined to meet the inquiry. He submitted a very short written summary through West Mercia Police. Crowther described his inability to recall relevant child sexual exploitation cases as remarkable.
Shropshire Council, whose predecessor had responsibility for children's social services in Telford until 1998, provided responses Crowther described as potentially combative. A request for historical taxi licensing information remained partially outstanding when he published his report, although Crowther did not believe the council had deliberately withheld documents.
Crowther said the four witnesses he named for staying away did not materially affect his conclusions. I do not accept that. Davies himself admitted to Parliament on 21 January 2025 that people the inquiry wanted to talk to did not come forward. An inquiry that 31 people could refuse, dodge or vanish from, that a former chief executive could answer by email, and that a neighbouring council could stonewall was the inquiry Shaun Davies chose for Telford's children.
AND TELFORD TODAY.
In July 2024, Shaun Davies became Telford's Labour MP. In May 2026, he was appointed Assistant Government Whip. On 22 July 2026, he was promoted to Government Whip, formally Junior Lord of the Treasury. The man who argued against a further inquiry into the rape of Telford's children enforces discipline among Labour MPs.
Anne Longfield chairs a statutory inquiry with the power to compel the witnesses Crowther could not. Telford is not on her list. On 17 July 2025 the council's Labour leader, Lee Carter, passed a motion that welcomed any role the inquiry might give Telford and wrote to the Home Secretary to say so. He did not demand a local investigation. Neither has Shaun Davies.
If Longfield has any desire to expose the cover up, she must name Telford herself. Maybe I can help her.
Last night, I drove to Telford to meet with a whistleblower. What I know now will destroy the council. It will also expose the Labour Party's part in the rape gang cover up in a way nothing before it has. When it is published, Longfield will have to name Telford. It is my intention to publish this weekend.
Raja Miah MBE