Schoolgirls lured into prostitution, warns MP » Communities » 24dash.com

The grooming of schoolgirls as young as 12 into prostitution by gangs of men is a growing national problem, a senior MP warned today.

Labour's Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, claimed skilful methods were being used by criminals to lure teenagers into the sex trade.

He warned the problem was being made worse by the use of the "sophisticated techniques" and new technology.

He said young men were initially targeting girls at school and acting as their boyfriends before passing them on to older men who would become their pimps.

In a Westminster Hall debate, Mr Sheerman said: "Children as young as 12 are brought into a life of prostitution.

"In every town and city there are unscrupulous men who have a very sophisticated methodology and technique of grooming children.

"It is a problem and it is getting worse in a very real way."

The MP said he knew of cases in his Huddersfield constituency where girls first met young men, perhaps driving "flash cars" outside school who made the initial contact.

They then took them out and introduced them to drink and drugs before embarking on a sexual relationship.

The girl would believe they were with their first boyfriend but before long, older men would then take over, forcing them to have sex and selling them to others.

He likened the psychological techniques employed at first to those used by US cult leaders. He added: "These men who prey on children have great skill in identifying the vulnerability of these children whatever the background they come from."

He added: "It is getting worse because of the technology. Children are more vulnerable through the internet and through mobile phones."

Mr Sheerman said there was evidence that where multi-agency approaches were used between police and child services the problem could be curtailed.

He said: "I believe the grooming of a child, whether it is by the teacher in the classroom, on the internet or grooming by a man in a flash car outside the school they are groomers. I don't like them, I believe they are criminals and they should be treated as such."

Junior Home Office minister Alan Campbell said the Government took the issue of child prostitution and exploitation "very seriously".

He said: "The safeguarding of children is an absolute priority and the exploitation of children is entirely unacceptable.

"Whatever community it occurs in and whatever community it comes from it is simply wrong."

He said that in relation to Huddersfield, a "number of police operations" were ongoing and he could not go into detail for fear of harming any future prosecutions.

The Government had issued guidance around the protection of children and more would follow later this year.

He added: "It is important that we have sophisticated responses to this.

"We are very concerned...about the issue of trafficking because it is a form of trafficking within the borders of the UK.

"Often it is teenage girls who are targeted for exploitation and then trafficked between and indeed within towns and cities and this is entirely unacceptable. The Government is committed to tackling this problem."