One response to the horrors inflicted on young girls in this city by a predatory child sex gang has been ‘if it could happen in Oxford, it could happen anywhere.’

But the abuse and torture happened here, repeatedly, again and again over a period of almost ten years.

Those who should have been helping the young victims have suggested that only now are they equipped to combat such organised and widespread abuse; as if grooming and depravity can only now be fought in a co-ordinated way, having previously been beyond the imagination of the main ‘protectors’, our police and social services.

How could they possibly have envisaged the evil being perpetrated in our midst, they exclaim?

Many of the acts committed against the girls were so appalling that they have not appeared in our news coverage.

But no one should pretend that the horrors of grooming and sex rings are a new stain on the nation.

What is not new in cases such as this are the PR-managed apologies from the likes of Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sara Thornton and county council chief executive Joanna Simons, along with an almost identical pledge to ‘learn from past mistakes.’

There is good cause for their apologies. Warning signs and clear evidence that underage girls were being brutally exploited were ignored. When girls, perhaps through threats and terror, withdrew complaints, cases were left on file, with the fearful pattern either missed or ignored.

Political correctness, lack of communication and the sickeningly familiar ‘lack of a co-ordinated approach between agencies’ are all being offered as reasons for inaction that many would call professional negligence.

There have been no resignations at the top, but that may change when a serious case review, opened to investigate the police and agencies involved, reports back later this year.

It will no doubt come down to procedures, prevailing culture, communication systems and resources, followed by more apologies.

When it comes to abuse of children and young people, the eyes of the public will be firmly fixed on Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire social services for years to come.