Primary school children are sex and crime exploitation targets

New figures show scale of criminal activity

Children as young as nine are being targeted for criminal and sexual exploitation in Torbay, according to shocking new figures.

Many of the youngsters are being groomed for organised crime through ‘wonderful but awful’ mobile phone apps such as TikTok and Snapchat, councillors have been told.

More than 170 children in Torbay are currently being monitored by the area’s exploitation team, and specialists say criminals are extending their reach among primary age children.

Examples of crime include stealing mopeds and other vehicles to be used by drug dealers, supplying drugs and joining the ‘county lines’ network which brings money, narcotics and even weapons into the bay.

Members of a council overview and scrutiny board, set up specifically to spotlight issues affecting children and young people, heard that the county lines links between Torbay and the West Midlands are particularly strong.

This week the board heard updates from service manager Ellie Clark, who said children often failed to realise that they were being groomed for exploitation.

A report to the meeting said 173 children are currently being monitored, 87 boys, 83 girls and three identifying as transgender. A total of 132 children are identified as vulnerable to criminal exploitation, 76 to sexual exploitation and 35 to both.

Most are aged 15 or 16, but some are of primary school age and the numbers aged from 10 to 12 were rising.

TikTok and Snapchat are ‘wonderful but awful’ apps, she said. “They can be used for fabulous things, but they can be used in other ways as well,” she added.

“It’s a really complex thing – the depth of the connection that children have in their online relationships, the way it becomes like another limb, the need to be on social media because everyone else is on it. It’s a really difficult chain to break.

“We do see traditional sexual exploitation that happens in a particular place, but the majority happens online. It’s a cat-and-mouse game.

Most of the ‘friends’ people have on TikTok and Snapchat are people they have never met.

“It’s not just the ‘dodgy’ person in a park. This is in their bedrooms, their safe space, in their homes, on holiday with them. It’s an ever-present risk from a fast-moving, sophisticated network of individuals and groups.

“I cannot over-emphasise the vastness of the challenges we have to overcome.”

Exploiters and children themselves are finding ways around existing safeguards and taking to the unregulated ‘dark web’ to communicate.

Boys and girls are equally vulnerable, but while boys are exploited by criminals, girls are often targeted for sexual exploitation. Moped theft and vehicle crime are on the rise, causing their own dangers.

“We are seeing children stealing mopeds, not wearing helmets,” she went on. “There have been several crashes in which children have ended up in hospital with serious injuries.”

Police have just launched Project Noxa, aimed at identifying key individuals causing the most harm in their communities.

Ms Clark added: “The police are absolutely vital in disrupting those adults of concern who are targeting young people.”

Chair Cordelia Law (Lib Dem, Tormohun) said: “Three years ago Torbay couldn’t even spell ‘exploitation’. Now our policies are really embedded, which is great to hear.”

Cllr Yvonne Twelves (Con, Kings Ash) said the figures are ‘shocking.’ The bay’s director of children’s services Nancy Meehan warned:

“You don’t think it could happen to your child, but yes it could.

“We have to work and support our parents to protect their children. Let’s get beyond the behaviour and see the trauma behind it.

“People are continually changing the ways in which they exploit young people. Children are a commodity to them, and if one comes out of the system they will find another one.

“We will never eradicate the risk.”