26/06/2011 The Politics Show Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

And here in the North - a minister tells us racial sensitivities

shouldn't prevent investigation of child sex grooming and abuse.

These Yorkshire mothers of teenage victims agree - they travelled to

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Westminster to lobby MPs - we've a Welcome to the Politics Show in the

North. Today we feature one of the most disturbing subjects we've ever

tackled on this programme. Claims that girls as young as 12 have been

taken off the streets of Yorkshire to be groomed and sexually

exploited by older men - and the If I said no or had an argument at

all put up a fight, they would be a punishment. And the punishment was

always worse than what they had planned in the first place.

We speak to the parents of victims who travelled to Westminster to

demand tougher action from the Government. And a leading minister

tells us why he believes many cases have been hampered by racial

sensitivities. I think political correctness and racial

sensitivities have in the past been an issue.

It is every parent's worst nightmare. To find out your child

has been groomed by a gang of older men and forced into a life of

prostitution and depravity. That's what happened to Emma, who was just

13 when she was drawn into that sordid world, whilst still

appearing to enjoy a happy family life. Emma has been speaking to the

Politics Show and tells us why she believes many offenders are

escaping justice because the police and other authorities aren't taking

It all started when I was 12 and had started going to a shopping

centre with my friends on the weekend. We started going in

hanging around in the arcade, going on the dance machines. We were

approached by some boys who were a couple of years older than us. They

started to give as alcohol and cannabis. I thought it was quite

fun, I was 13 by this time. I knew it was wrong but how was a normal

13-year-old who was flattered by a nice-looking lad who I thought was

a team with a nice car. Using a pseudonym, and the Jackson has

written a book about her ordeal as a teenager in South Yorkshire. She

talks about meeting a man who eventually led her into a world of

prostitution and abuse. They started ask me to have sex with

people perform sexual acts on people. I would get strangers

coming to pick me up and phoning me. He also started to rate me once a

week every week. It was his way of keeping me in line. If I said no or

had an argument or put up a fight, there would be a punishment, and

the punishment was always worse than what they had planned and the

first place, so it was easier to shut up and put up and get on with

it. Cull's father says he was completely unaware. -- Emma's

father. You think, how can this happen to us as a family when

you're just a normal, everyday family? You go to work, you pay

your taxes. Obviously, Emma was my baby. I felt like I had not been

there to protect and you stop blaming yourself. Former MP and his

familiar with her case. She highlighted what many believe to be

a taboo subject. David has certainly made it more possible for

men such as these to be prosecuted successfully through the courts.

People who've been to me initially about these problems, I arranged

for them to meet David Blunkett in a meeting in Leeds. They did, and

they were impressed with his responses. The policies were such

that he promised to get the alterations which I have mentioned

through Parliament. He did what he promised. Earlier this year, the

former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw was like -- widely criticised

after claiming that some men are Pakistani origin saw white gulls as

easy meat. The Labour peer Lord Ahmed was one of the first

politicians to openly talk about gangs of Asian men targeting young

girls. He believes the issue should not be swept under the carpet.

know I have had a lot of criticism from their own community because I

have started talking about it. We need to put it into context. 98 %

of the community that is engaged in fantastic work within the UK,

whether it is economic, political or social. But there is a small

minority involved with criminal activities. This he must crime of

messing with young girls is outrageous -- is outrageous crime.

The men who targeted Emma whenever brought to justice despite his

signed confession from one of their alleged abuses. The police also

revealed a number of items of clothing which could have provided

crucial DNA evidence were lost. Cull now works with other girls who

had been robbed of their innocence. They say, something happened last

night, I took something and I'm not sure how I feel about the situation.

13 year-olds are not going to come forward and say that and that is

why it they prey on them. Later we'll hear from the

Children's Minister, who admits that in the past, political

correctness and racial sensitivities have been an issue.

Before then, we follow a group of parents on a journey to Westminster.

A journey they hope will lead to a greater awareness of what needs to

be done to tackle the problem of child sexual exploitation. Sean

Stowell reports. Early morning in Leeds, and a

delegation gathers to board a coach for Westminster. Most of these

women, we cannot identify. Their daughters were groomed and then

experienced sexual abuse and violence no parents would ever want

to imagine. Their lives and those of their daughters and families

have been devastated. Our daughter was targeted at the age of 12. As a

family, we suffered three years of health and to we managed to extract

her from these very powerful perpetrators. The women want

politicians to listen and understand how a child sexual

exploitation begins and take hold. The grooming process is that they

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get them with fancy cars. They may They arrive at Westminster with

nerves jangling. Most have never spoken a team meeting before. The

organisers of the lobby are pushing for more local authorities to

develop strategies to deal with child sexual exploitation. Only a

quarter currently have one. They also want MPs to oppose government

cuts which have hit children's charities hard. And they want to

increase parental involvement. Research shows support for parents

helps keeps -- helps keep families together. The the meeting takes

place behind closed doors. Numbers of politicians are down because of

an important government statement. Because there weren't many people

there because other issues are being debated at the moment, that

was a bit disappointing, but the politicians who were there

responded quite positively and were quite shocked at the stories that

were coming out from parents like myself. We were threatened with

being attacked, our house was vandalised. She was terrified

because she was afraid something would happen to others. It is

something people don't want to understand. It is to terrific --

too horrific to acknowledge this happens in our country.

parents' stories were incredibly powerful. We got the point across

we wanted to, which is in many ways about implementation, awareness

raising and contacting children sports. A relatively small

investment in an organisation like this will yield a massive savings

in the reduction in future exploitation. I think you have to

raise the profile of an issue that a lot of people don't want to talk

about because it brings shame to them and their families. It is a

great credit to the parents there today. Measuring success is easy

for this charity - it is the number of people rescued from a life of

drugs and sexual exploitation. Over the past five months, the

national agency responsible for child protection, CEOP, has been

looking into the problem of child grooming. Its report is due to be

published in the next few days and is expected to reveal that the

scale of the problem has been hugely underestimated in recent

times. Len Tingle has been finding out what's being done to prevent

more young people falling into this terrible trap.

That report is certainly exercising minds here at Westminster as

politicians work out exactly where to go from here. Diana Johnson was

a minister in the schools, children and Family Department under the

Labour administration. She is currently the shadow police

minister. I think there probably is under reporting of this and one

thing that occurs to me is the importance schools and teachers

being able to talk to your people about what is happening and use

that information and be confident that actually things should not be

happening around grooming of children. I think schools and

education are important parts of this. Unfortunately, the government

is taking a limited view of what education and schools can do. I

think most people would say it is an important arena for children to

disclose important information. It needs to be a dress -- addressed by

properly addressing the problem. got me taking drugs. Britain's

biggest children since charity launched this chilling advert aimed

to persuade the government that a co-ordinated approach was needed to

stop the grinning and sexual exploitation of children. The

charity is working with families and victims across the country.

welcome as many voices talking about this as a hidden issue,

because that is what it is. Only 89 convictions at of 2756 victims in

2009 - it is not a surprise that many people don't recognise this as

a child protection issues. Diana Johnson has other concerns,

particularly plans to merge CEOP with a wider Agency. It is an

expert body on looking at this issue and I think it should stand

alone and get the resources it needs to carry on. I don't agree it

should go into the National crime agency. I would certainly make sure

the resources are there for this particular dreadful crime to be

actually prosecuted and to be investigated properly by police.

Organisations like Barnardo's say a better future can only be obtained

by taking the politics out of the issue and stopping the damaged to

vulnerable victims. It is not the only voice making that plea. I have

reclaimed the agenda from the BNP and the Far Right. They have taken

so much advantage on this particular issue, which has damaged

our relations in this country between communities. I have been

able to take that away. Now, the issue is not about race, it is

about these evil men and about protecting young girls. I'm getting

on better with my mum now. She picks me up after counselling. I

have made some new friends. what are the families and friends

of young, vulnerable people do if they feel in danger? He did they

turn to? Our website this week lists agencies baking go to for

support and advice. The government says his conversations with

agencies and interested parties is well under way. It expects to have

a policy later this year. The Government agreed to take a

closer look at this problem following a recent case in Derby,

where a number of young girls were targeted by a paedophile gang. The

investigation was codenamed Operation Retriever. I've been

speaking to the Children's Minister Tim Loughton. I asked him whether

he shared the frustration of many parents in Yorkshire that so few

cases have resulted in prosecution. I entirely understand the

frustration those families who have been unfortunate enough to have

family members involved in this horrible process have felt. It

recently, we have seen a lot of police resources targeted on

busting some of these gangs who are involved in this process. This is

up and down the country, not just in big cities. I think it is

happening in rural areas up and down the length of the UK. What we

needed do is firstly raise the profile of it, because we all have

a duty here, we all need to watch out for any signs of this.

Operation Retriever was intelligence brought forward by

some local voluntary groups to enable the police to get at the

bottom of what was going on. So I want to make sure we have a co-

ordinated action plan that I as a minister will be working on it over

the summer and autumn. Many cases in the North of England have

involved Asian men. Do you believe there has been a reluctance in some

quarters to discuss this because of perceived race will -- perceived

racial sensitivities? If there is, it has to stop. I don't care where

these people are, what they ate my origins are, I want this to be

stopped. -- what they ate racial origins are. Racial background is

not the biggest consideration. The priority is to make sure children

are safe wherever they are. They must be saved from whatever group

are exploiting them. In many cases, we are dealing with closed

communities, closed in terms of things being able to go on under

the radar and away from the public eye. And closed as well in terms of

a reluctance of certain victims and their families to want to come

forward and report in case it gets them into trouble with other

members of their community. We have to work to make sure that everybody

is aware that this is a problem and that everybody is encouraged to

come forward and report abuse where they see it, because it does not

affect just that one family, because those abuses, because of

the nature of this organised network of abuse, will affect many

other dozens of children in the locality as well. So everybody has

a duty of care to come forward with whatever information will enable

the police, the government and other agencies to get to the bottom

of the criminals. They are committing ghastly crimes against

honourable, young children. Do you believe in the past some

investigations have been hampered by political correctness? I think

political correctness and racial sensitivities have in the past been

an issue and I want to send out a message loud and Clear - this is

what I have been doing since the round table where this was brought

together. Although we need to be aware of certain characteristics of

various ethnic communities, and sensitive and sensible as to how we

deal with them, it is not an excuse for us not investigating rigorously

any abuse that may be going on. There is no hiding place for

criminals who sexually abused and exploited children and young people,

wherever they come from. I won a message to go out loud and clear. -

- I want that message. We will seek you out and bring you to justice,

no matter what community you come from. And I want everybody to help

in that process. We all have a duty of care. The Children's Minister