30,000 children hooked by gangs in repeat of sex grooming scandal

ALMOST 30,000 children have been ensnared by ruthless criminal gangs while the authorities ‘turn a blind eye’, a report warns today.

Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield compared the crisis to recent sex grooming scandals, saying she fears the failings which led to cases such as Rochdale were now being repeated.

The alarming findings come after an explosion in the number of county lines gangs. She said they are using identical tactics to sexual predators, luring in vulnerable victims with gifts before threatening them with extreme violence.

Her report shows 27,000 children aged ten to 17 have been sucked into gangs across England. Yet just one in four is known to the authorities as many children’s services have no knowledge about local gangs and the risks they pose, it concludes.

Mrs Longfield is calling on the Government to treat the issue as a national priority, saying: ‘The criminal gangs are complex and ruthless organisations, using sophisticated techniques to groom children, and chilling levels of violence to keep them compliant. I am worried the mistakes that led to serious failings in relation to child sexual exploitation in towns and cities up and down the country are being repeated. Many local areas are not facing up to the scale of the problem, and they are not listening to parents and communities who ask for help.

‘Parents I talk to whose children are in gangs are desperate. One told me her child had ended up in A&E with stab wounds, yet still they weren’t offered any help from children’s services. “How much worse does it have to get?” she asked.’

Mrs Longfield, who is hosting a gangs summit today with police and local safeguarding boards, added: ‘No child should end up as a headline about gangland murder simply because nobody thought it was their job to keep them safe.’