1,000 children abused in 40 years in UK "worst ever" scandal

Girls as young as 11 were drugged, beaten and raped in the western British town of Telford with up to 1,000 children estimated to have suffered abuse over 40 years, a British newspaper reported on Sunday.

"Authorities failed to act over 40 years -- despite repeated warnings to social workers -- with up to 1,000 girls, some as young as 11, abused in Telford," the newspaper Sunday Mirror said in a special report.

The rape hell of vulnerable young girls in Telford went on for a shocking 40 years, the newspaper said.

As many as 1,000 children could have suffered at the merciless hands of perverts and torturers in Telford since the 1980s, it said.

Girls as young as 11 have been lured from their families to be drugged, beaten and raped in an epidemic that, say victims, is still ongoing, Sunday Mirror said.

Three people were murdered and two others died in tragedies linked to the scandal, the newspaper revealed after 18-month investigation.

"The scale of the abuse uncovered in Telford -- population of 170,000 -- is feared to be the most brutal and long-running of all," it said.