Police: Child Abuse In 'Picturesque Towns'

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

A senior detective has warned there are cases of child sexual exploitation in "picturesque towns" where people would never imagine abuse could be happening.

Detective Chief Supt Andrew Murray said there have been 20 large-scale investigations across the Thames Valley since the Oxford grooming scandal was uncovered.

He added it was not a problem confined to the big urban areas like Rochdale and Rotherham.

He told Sky News: "We have made sure that the most experienced, the most highly trained detectives are investigating the complex cases of child sexual exploitation.

"Since the Bullfinch case we have done approximately 20 large scale investigations right across Thames Valley.

"We have uncovered exploitation going on in places that you wouldn't really imagine it to happen, not just in the large urban areas but there are allegations, court cases currently in Banbury.

"There will be future court cases in places like Aylesbury ... it does prove the adage that if you look for it you will find it."

He added: "In my view if you want to call yourself a detective in the 21st century you have to learn how to protect children, you have to learn how to investigate child abuse.

"We have proved that if you look for this you will find it, we have found it not just in our large urban areas but in areas of Thames Valley you would consider as picturesque market towns

"The sad fact is that there will always be people out there who will abuse children, they will always be there so what we need to do is guarantee that we listen to those children and we never give up on them."

His comments come after Professor Alexis Jay, who carried out a report into the abuse of 1,400 children in Rotherham, cautioned:  "No one knows the true extent of child sexual exploitation in any community.

"You need to look for it. Professionals need to seek it out and address it.

"I'm confident that Rotherham was not unique, where I found conservatively that 1,400 young people had been abused through sexual exploitation, and I would be sure that similar numbers would be elsewhere."

Det Chief Supt Murray, the most senior detective on Thames Valley Police, also acknowledged the victims of sexual exploitation in the city were badly let down before gang members were finally arrested in 2012.

The Serious Case Review found signs of the abuse were evident as early as 2005 but not acted upon.

He told Sky News: "We have apologised to those children but an apology is not enough, unless you learn the lessons from the past.

"It is a cultural change, we need to make sure that the reason we failed to investigate in the past is put right in the future.

"The main lesson I have taken away from this, as a detective, is that we need coordinated and sustained investigation into allegations of child sexual exploitation."

He said since the Oxford case 700 children had been referred to the force on the suspicion they might be being sexually exploited.

The difference, he said, was that now each child had a "plan put around them" by education and health care professionals - and an proper investigation.

With echoes of cases in Rotherham and Rochdale, most of the offenders prosecuted in Oxford were British Pakistani.

Det Chief Supt Murray pointed out that 90% of the cases he and his colleagues deal with involve abuse within families where ethnicity is not the issue.

However, he does see a pattern with street grooming. He said: "There does appear to be more men of a British Pakistani heritage and more men from a black African heritage.

"I think it is evolving picture. I would like there to be independent academic analysis as to why that would be ... but I don't think it should alter in any way how we investigate."

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