Birmingham City Council has been accused of ‘refusing’ to alert parents to gang members allegedly involved in child rapes and sexual exploitation.

It follows yesterday’s Birmingham Mail front page exclusive revealing how West Midlands Police had arrested one suspected gang member for three schoolgirl rapes – but bailed him on each occasion.

Our investigation also told how 14 suspected gang members from south Birmingham had been arrested for alleged sex offences against under-age girls.

Now, the Conservative group on the city council has demanded that the Labour-run authority take immediate action to brief parents about the dangers of gangs targeting youngsters for child sexual exploitation, as previously revealed by the Mail.

Conservative lead for a Family Friendly City, Debbie Clancy, Tory councillor for Longbridge and West Heath, said: “In 2017 it is a disgrace that children in Birmingham could be subjected to such awful actions by gangs in our city.

“Over recent months there has been a drip-drip of information in the press about what is happening but months after the first press report, the Council seems to still be refusing to contact parents to warn them of the risk, and to explain what parents can do to try and safeguard their child from harm."

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She added: “I am horrified that schools and the Council are not passing any information that could help protect children onto parents. If this information can help save just one extra child from the horrors of CSE then we have a moral duty to ensure parents are informed.

“I have written to the Council, demanding that they take action and brief parents in the affected areas”.

Earlier this year, the Mail reported how gang members had targeted some girls at schools in the south of the city for sexual exploitation .

Whilst parents of girls directly affected are believed to have been made aware of the threat, neither the council nor schools have issued general warnings to all parents.

We also told how three new gangs had emerged in the south of the city; the Frankley Killers and the 61 and 247365 groups.

Their emergence had led to an explosion in violence, including a rising number of gun and knife crimes.

Some gang members have allegedly involved in the exploitation of schoolgirls with attacks recorded on phones.

The Birmingham Mail has campaigned for years to highlight the issue of child sexual exploitation in the city.

Our series of articles featured the publication of offender profiles for the first time.

They showed how predators and grooming gangs were targeting children at care homes and outside schools, parks, hotels and even shopping centres.

West Midlands Police and local authorities and other public bodies have teamed up to tackle the issue, including targeting known offenders and launching CSE awareness programmes.

But hundreds of children are still officially at risk of sexual exploitation in the city every year.