The youngsters' hell went on for decades as authorities repeatedly failed to stamp out a network of paedophiles in the Shropshire town.

If this figure is correct, it would mean there are more victims per head of population than in the similar scandals that hit Rochdale and Rotherham. AS many as 1,000 children may have been drugged, raped and abused in Telford since the 1980s, child abuse experts say.