A new report has revealed 1,400 children were sexually exploited over a 16-year period in a single British town. The report’s author, professor Alexis Jay, found leaders in Rotherham knew of the abuse years ago but failed to act.

Alexis Jay: “It is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse the child victims suffered. They were raped by multiple perpetrators. They were trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England. They were abducted, beaten and intimidated. There were examples of children being doused with petrol and threatened with being set alight. They were threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be the next if they told anyone.”