Grooming - Every Parent's Nightmare

some parts of his programme The victims of grooming are young

and often vulnerable, children taken advantage of by adults.

would a 21-year-old want with a 12- year-old? I was 12. For some police

forces, child protection is a priority. But in certain parts of

the UK, sexual exploitation is a problem that goes largely

unrecognised. It is happening in every part of the country, in every

community. Much of the debate has focused on raising responsibility.

If somebody is grooming under-aged girls for sex, that is wrong.

why are these little girls out in the first place? For the parents of

victims, discovering what has happened to their child can be

devastating. The aftermath goes on and on and on. The victim and the

Childhood is supposed to be an age of innocence, but not for everyone.

Nobody knows why many children are sexually exploited in the UK. But

it can have an effect for the rest of their life. If you get a raped

the first time, you think, I am not going to go back. But then you do.

You keep on going back to the same person because you feel afraid. You

sometimes feel they are all you have got. This girl is now 19 but

she was sexually exploited by men before she was a teenager. They

take you to parties and give you drink and drugs. When you go to

leave, you can't get out the door. They make you feel like they love

you and care for you. The way they talk to you, but they know what

they're saying. They're trying to get to you. Those involved in a

grooming rely on making their victims feel a combination of fear

and dependence. This centre was the first to help sexually exploited

children. It is run by Barnardos. We have had children as young as 10

who have taken risks by sending pictures. That was at the request

of adults, abusers. We have worked with a 13-year-old who has been

groomed and targeted by lots of adult men. She had been burnt by

cigarettes. She had been kidnapped. She has had horrendous experiences.

Groups of men? These have some organisation. Yes. It was several.

We have no idea of the extent as to how organised it is. There are

pockets of areas where there is organised abuse happening. There

are pockets of Lancashire where grooming is a concern. Quite

isolated. These steps lead to the other side of the canal. Officers

from the Freedom Team work in Burnley and child protection is one

of their priorities. Are you OK? You are not in trouble. It is

starting to it get dark and in the park they find a 10-year-old girl

walking alone. What time do you have to be home? She is still a

primary-school child but this is the age that police started to

worry about children putting themselves at risk. Be safe. A

young 10-year-old girl in the park on her own, wearing make-up and she

has a necklace on. She might be somebody we need to speak to. Will

her mother know where she is? I doubt it.

A couple of miles away, other police officers think they have

spotted somebody currently on bail charged in connection with the

sexual exploitation of young teenage girls. One of the bail

conditions is that he stays away from this area. While they cannot

find him, they do run into the man he was talking to. The one known to

the police. He might say that he has not been in any trouble with

the police but a check reveals a different information. RADIO:

Previous - criminal damage and sexual assault. Sexual assault?

is the victims of sexual offences who cannot forget the crimes. Jane

is 15 but was only 12 when she found herself in a hotel room with

a man almost one decade older. pulled something out of his pocket

and I did not realise what they were at first. I looked once and

then I took a second look full. He had a handful of condoms. He threw

them at me and they were all over my legs. He said, you will need

them more than I do. It got a bit weird and I was scared. Given that

he was about 21 and you were 12 years old, what do you think

looking back? It is just horrible. What would a 21-year-old want with

a 12-year-old? I was 12. Thinking how stupid I was to put myself in

that position, but you do not think when you are that young. You do not

think about what could happen because you do not get told. I had

Back in Burnley, the police suspect that some men facing charges in

connection with a child sex offences have returned to the town.

That would breach their bail conditions and put them back in the

same area as the girls they are accused of abusing. The house that

I believe is what I class as a safe house for housing criminals. It is

a place they are using when they are in breach of bail. There is no

sign of the men that they are looking for, despite searching at

the front and the back. You'll probably find there are people

ringing to let them know police are knocking. They will probably not

answer the door now anyway. As they are getting ready to drive away, a

car pulls up. It is the brother of one of the men that is on bail. The

police chase after him, determined to send a message. We are looking

for your brother. I was just checking. I know where he hides out.

The best way of protecting children is by preventing the abuse. If

police officers think a girll is starting to be groomed, they say

they will step in. Section 2 is a brilliant tool that we use. It is a

warning notice that allows us to show perpetrators how old a child

is. The perpetrator that is shown a photograph of the child. When they

reach the age of 16 they are under no illusion that if they are found

with that child they could be arrested. They lose their defence.

What's viewed as best practice in Lancashire is not followed

everywhere else. A report showed that many agencies across the UK

simply were not doing their jobs. The Local Safeguarding Children

Board is pivotal. Police officers and children's services as well as

health agencies are important. The assessment found that the majority

of safeguarding children's boards have not followed the national

guidance which in simple terms is to say you should assume this form

of sexual exploitation is taking place until you know otherwise. The

findings were that was not happening in the majority of the

parts of the country. It is difficult to say what goes on in

other forces. But I would say that until five years ago we did not

know the scope of the problem. It has always been there. I think it

is endemic across all society. It is around late night businesses

that groomers look to meet girls, or in some cases, boys. The

grooming is often a long and slow process. Some victims do not even

realise they are being sexually exploited until it is too late.

drive around at three o'clock in the morning and there are still

people often walking up and down. Those are the people we are trying

to get hold of. The Government is looking at an action plan to tackle

the issue of grooming and the Children's Minister said local

safeguarding boards in every part of the country need to be doing

this kind of work. If it turns out that some

authorities say, it is not happening, I would say, yes it is.

Why are you not finding it? Just saying it is not a problem is not

an excuse. Somebody is not doing their job properly. It is happening

in every part of the country in This is one house where vulnerable

girls have been discovered before. I only met him that night... Police

officers from the Freedom Team work directly alongside a social worker

and a sexual health nurse. It is a joint approach which teaches girls

about basic safety. One of the girls, only 15, is that higher risk

of exploitation. She went missing overnight and was found at this

address. When she was found there the other night, another girl was

missing. She was located as well. She was talking about the fact that

some girls were going off with a 25-year-old. Yes. One girl was

picked up by a 25-year-old male. That is a real worry. Yes. That is

why we do regular checks on the places that we know of. It is a

safe house. It is warm. There is a television, alcohol. It usually

turns into a party house. We have to keep checking. So-called party

houses are commonly used to groom children. Boys and girls are

attracted by the prospect of drink and drugs but often end up abused.

Sometimes it is even for prostitution. You are never on your

own. There are always other girls there. I got taken up there by a

friend. There were girls there. There were lads there. Some of them

were at 15, 16, 17. Some were 25. Some were in their late 20s. At

that point I did not think... There was beer, weed. These were men who

had organised these parties, in their 20s. They organise these

parties for the purpose of having sex with the girls. It is sick. I

was really drunk. Finding out what happened afterwards at that night

at their house, a young girl had been raped at the house that I was

at. I thought, even then, that Jane was groomed by Asian men. That

is not unique. The ringleaders of this gang were Pakistani. They were

convicted of serious sexual offences after being pictured

driving around Derby looking for girls. There are other concerns.

Every person I know that has been groomed has been by Asian men. That

is how it is where I live. Sexual exploitation does not just happen

on streets or at parties. Figures suggest there are more white people

involved in grooming. The percentage of Asian groomers is

high. It could be individuals or gangs. There is a problem with the

gang mentality. We need to work ers

to make sure their communities are watching out for this. No-one

denies there are individuals from within certain communities involved

in the grooming of young girls and the headlines have been dominated

by gangs led by British-Pakistani men. But there is a concern that

the issue of race is starting to dominate how you deal with a wider

and complex issue. In the north of the country, the gangs are

predominantly Asian or Pakistani. It is right we address that issue

because that has to be identified. But it is not fair to demonise or

attack the whole community. In a recent conviction, six white people

were convicted of grooming. They got short sentences. In Burnley,

many said girls' families had to take some responsibility. Most

victims are white. This is the way people are brought up. With Asian

girls, they're at home. They have a sense of structure. But the white

parents, they let them go out. That does not excuse grooming. I did not

say it did. Nothing excuses it. white girls are being molested.

Their parents do not put boundaries around them. We believe in

freedom... This country has limits. It does not matter what their

families are doing. If somebody is grooming under-aged girls for sex,

that is wrong. No matter what the society says, that is wrong. I am

not saying it is right.. These little girls, why are they out in

the first place? But there are Asian girls among the victims. This

one was groomed as a young teenager and insists it is a crime committed

in practically all communities. Sheffield there have been African

and Nigerian men around. It is way too focused on the subject of them

being Asian. Basically they are human beings. They are men. They

have done wrong. That is what you need to focus on, not their ethnic

Could all of society be doing more to protect children from the adult

In the high street you can see that some shops believe that sex sells,

but there are parents concerned about what that is doing to their

children. The Government has its worries as well. It commissioned an

independent report into the commercialisation and sexualisation

There are some families particularly worried about who

their children see as their role I went to see Rianna in Liverpool.

I was thinking, the girls are going to look at that and think it is

normal. The Mother's Union was involved in the report into sexual

exploitation. Some parents believe society is encouraging young people

to grow up too quickly. We seem to be putting pressure on them to be

sexual at a young age rather than being an actual child. There are

bikinis with padded tops from the age of eight. You are projecting

something on to a child that shouldn't be there. While there is

focus on street grooming there are fears that the internet and mobile

phones have made it easier for children to be sexually exploited

in their own home. If they are on the internet, the door should be

open. You should be able to go in at any time. I would not let mine

have a web cam. It is fascinating how much this conversation is

focused on girls and not boys. Whenever people talk about

sexualisation, they talk about girls. We need to play catch up.

There is a lot more going on that we do not know about. Some senior

police officers agree with that. do not know the full extent of it.

It is a hidden crime, particularly with boys. They are more likely to

disclose to mates. Girls might boast about having friends with

With both boys and girls, there are fears for the most vulnerable. One

of the common reasons for children being taken into care is because

they are seen as being at risk of A recent Barnardo's report suggests

that almost two-thirds of girls in children's homes in Northern

Ireland are at risk of grooming. They target homes because they

think, they are going through a lot and if we try to get in with them

and be nice to them and make them feel special, they will come with

us. They make you think it is OK when they rape you. The truth is,

children from all backgrounds can be taken advantage of, including

those from loving, stable families. This man's daughter was abused and

forced into prostitution by a criminal gang. It is about money.

It is more about money and criminality than it is about sex.

Certainly about power. The power that a group of men have over an

apparently willing victim. They do not see the abuse as abuse because

they are convinced in their own mind that the person is their

boyfriend and it is somehow a relationship. Some of the gang were

prosecuted and convicted. Going to court was a difficult experience

for the whole family. It sometimes feels as though the cost of that

was too great. It was too great a price to pay. The aftermath goes on

and on and on. The victim and the There have been some high-profile

trials that have collapsed and other cases that have never made it

to court. They are often rely on the evidence of the victims. The

truth is for some of them going to court simply is not worth it.

have to sit through court and hear about the violence and the sexual

abuse that would take place from a whole lot of different men while

your child may have been drunk is just terrible. One support group

works with the victims. We have had families where we thought there was

watertight evidence. But the judge accepted the claim that the men

thought the girls were over 16. They were actually 12 and 14.

judge agreed that they looked older and the case was dismissed.

Government shares concerns about the way courts deal with this crime.

The high-profile cases we have seen, you have had eight or nine

barristers defending eight or nine defendants, interrogating a teenage

girl and forcing her relive all of her experiences. It is very

traumatising. We expect them to go through the mill a second time in

the court process. We are trying to work with the legal processes and

the Attorney General has been part of the working group who have

helped us on these to see if we can make court cases simpler. That's

all well to say, but the reality is court processes are set. There is

little you can do. We need to change the courts. The courts are

there to get perpetrators, not to intimidate victims. Young people

will always want to act like adults. Hang on a minute. Police. It's 10pm

when the police catch up with the 15-year-old girl, they find she has

been drinking. What people need to realise is that predatory groomers,

criminals who exploit children for sex, are very skilled at what they

do. They are the experts. They are the ones who know how to drive a

wedge between children and their Those involved in abuse rely on