An organized gang that raped children in the UK was protected assiduously by thugs: when a researcher discovered what was going on and reported it, they threatened to expose the researcher to the gang.

There are laws that dishonestly claim that every time someone under 16 or 18 (depending on where) has sex, it is "rape". Calling willing sex "rape" does not make it rape, and calling a 17-year-old who wants to have sex a "child" does not make that teenager a child.

However, this gang committed real rapes, and other real violence, and its victims included real children.