Telford protest march planned over 'grooming gangs'
Another far-right group has announced plans to march in Telford as a result of the town's links to child sex exploitation.
Britain First has said it will be holding the group's first protest march of 2017 in the town on February 25 next year.
An exact location is yet to be announced, but the march will take place from midday to 5pm.
The group said it was marching in Telford in protest at "Muslim grooming gangs". It comes after the English Defence League (EDL) marched in the town in protest against child sex exploitation last month.
A Britain First spokesman said: "Britain First will be holding its first protest march of 2017 in the town of Telford. We would urge people to join Britain First on Saturday, February 25, to protest in the town against this scandal."
In 2013 seven men were jailed for a total of nearly 50 years for their role in a child sex ring which groomed and sold young girls from Telford for sex, following the lengthy police Operation Chalice.
Telford was named in national newspapers this year as the "child sex capital of the UK", with the highest number of recorded crimes of that nature of any town or city in the country.
Telford MP Lucy Allan has long called for an independent inquiry into the problem and has raised the matter with Prime Minister Theresa May. But police and council chiefs insist recent inspections point to great improvements being made in tackling the problem.
Moreover, Telford police chief Superintendent Tom Harding said the public perception that gangs of Asian men were largely responsible was not correct. He said police figures revealed 89 per cent of child sex offenders in Telford were male.
He said the high figures should not necessarily be seen as a negative either, and could be a sign that more people were coming forward to report being victims of crime.
