Scourge of slavery must be exposed

The abduction of Chloe Ayling, a glamour model who was drugged, kidnapped and held captive for six days has caught the nation’s imagination. And for good reason, because most of us were totally unaware that this kind of thing actually happens in real life.

Chloe, 20, was allegedly kidnapped in Italy to be auctioned off as a sex slave by the Black Death group, which operates on the Dark Web.

Her story was swiftly followed by a report from the National Crime Agency revealing modern slavery and human trafficking affects “every large town and city” in Britain.

There are currently more than 300 police operations targeting such crimes, with victims as young as 12 being sold to families in the UK.

If there can be an upside to something so grim as Chloe’s ordeal, it’s that it has raised awareness of this vile, dehumanising crime.

And, as we’re learning to do with terrorism, we all need to keep our eyes open to what is going on around us.