Police and social workers in England have been accused of failing to investigate a South Asian paedophile gang for fear of being perceived as racist, leaving the men free to prey on up to 50 white girls.
Nine men from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were convicted of abusing five vulnerable teenagers after plying them with alcohol and small sums of money.
The true number of victims who were "passed around" by the gang was likely to have been nearer 50, police said.
Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service apologised after they failed to bring the case of the first victim, known as Girl A, to trial following her initial cry for help in August 2008.
One 13-year-old victim became pregnant and had the child aborted while another was raped by 20 men in one night, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Complaints to social workers and the police were ignored because they were "petrified of being called racist", Ann Cryer, the former Labour MP for Keighley, said.
Mrs Cryer, who has campaigned to bring the issue of Asian sex gangs to light, said the girls had been "betrayed" and condemned to "untold misery" by the police and social services.
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