Lucy was 12 when she was raped and forced to have sex with numerous men in Rotherham, an English town of 257,000 people. When she finally found the courage to tell her mother, two police officers came to collect her soiled clothes as evidence, only to lose them days later. A check was mailed for loss of property and the case was closed.

Lucy's story is just one of many child abuse cases that have recently rocked Britain and shocked the world. At least 1,400 minors were sexually abused and trafficked from 1997 to 2013 while local authorities reportedly looked the other way, according to an official report on the sexual abuse of children in Rotherham.

Despite numerous reports of rampant abuse and exploitation, only one case, involving three teenage girls, was prosecuted, and five men were sent to jail.

Read more via The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1pBZpn0