Street star praise for Barnado’s victim aid

CORONATION STREET’S Christopher Harper has praised children’s charity Barnardo’s for helping victims of sexual exploitation get justice as his role in the soap’s grooming storyline continues.

The actor’s high-profile plot in the ITV soap has seen his character Nathan Curtis groom teenager Bethany Platt, played by Lucy Fallon, and getting her involved with other men.

Dramatic scenes in this week’s episodes saw Bethany finally see through Nathan as he attempted to sex traffic her to Belgium.

The soap will now follow Bethany as she goes through the difficult journey of agreeing to testify against the man she thought loved her.

Harper said: “Nathan has finally lost his grip on Bethany but it will still be a harrowing time for her as she struggles to come to terms with what has happened to her.

“She now faces a battle to get justice and will need a lot of support as she rebuilds her life.

“Barnardo’s specialist services carry out this essential work with real-life victims of child sexual exploitation, supporting them to move on and seek justice through the courts against their perpetrators.

“They also strive to ensure schools, families and the community are aware and vigilant to possible signs of grooming and sexual exploitation.”

Barnardo’s chief executive Javed Khan said: “There has been a marked increase in the number of referrals coming through our child sexual exploitation services and some local authorities report they have had a 30 per cent increase in the last year.

“This is a very worrying trend and clearly a growing problem in our society today.

“A vital part of our work is helping these vulnerable young people through the judicial system.”