School grounds ... girl was stripped and assaulted

A PROBE into failures to properly investigate the sexual and physical abuse of a girl aged SIX by more than 20 of her classmates has been launched.

The victim was regularly assaulted by 23 children, her own age, within school grounds.

The school and local authority said children's evidence could not be relied on so little could be done.

A serious case review published TWO YEARS after allegations of abuse first emerged has been slammed as a "shocking failure" by Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler.

Children's Commissioner ... Keith Towler

The investigation process in Wales is now under review in a bid to find out why those children allegedly involved in the abuse were free to remain at the school.

Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler said: "This is a shocking failure and the bottom line is the family will never know what happened to their child.

"We are going to review the serious case review process in Wales to make sure they are much more timely published, within a year of incidents happening, so that we get really clear for everybody involved, what happened, why it happened and what we need to do to put things right."

The serious case review confirmed the assaults took place.

But the school and the local education authority both of which cannot be named said no action could be taken because the children involved were below the age of criminal responsibility.

The girl's mum only discovered the abuse after being told of similar incidents by another parent.

She recalled the terror on her daughter's face as she described what had been happening.

She said: "She was telling me things that I think every mother dreads to hear from their daughter. It was horrendous what she'd gone through.

"Every day she was being stripped. She was being physically and sexually abused every day. And every day she cried out for help and nobody ever came."

The serious case review came only after she moved her daughter to another school and began legal action.

Mr Towler said teachers needed better training and said the serious case review system in Wales would be changed to prevent similar failures in the future.

Neelam Bhardwaja, president of the Directors of Social Services in Wales, said the review into the bungled investigation would be completed in June.

The Welsh Assembly refused to comment on the case.