In a shocking revelation, women and teenage girls as young as 14 are being groomed to have forced sex by criminal gangs in London, according to a BBC report.
As per the report, several victims said they had been sexually exploited multiple times as a form of “payment" for unpaid drug debts. Others were pressurised, manipulated and in some cases, groomed just before sex.
The report also revealed that young girls are often lured into gang activity, including dealing drugs, trading weapons and stealing phones, before being sexually exploited.
One of the victims, Kelly (name changed), said she was initially drawn into drug dealing by three men and later pressured into having sex to settle debts or maintain gang loyalty.
“I didn’t feel like I was groomed or exploited. I didn’t think I was a victim. It’s taken me a while to realise I was used and manipulated. It gave my life purpose for a bit and I felt needed," she told the news outlet adding, “I didn’t feel that at home. I was looking for something because I was lonely and bored."
Another survivor, Milly (name changed), told BBC that she was 15 when she was repeatedly given alcohol and drugs before being taken into bedrooms by different men. She said that she was often too intoxicated to remember details of the abuse.
Detective Sergeant John Knox, head of the Metropolitan Police’s child exploitation team in Lambeth and Southwark, said girls in gangs are often treated as the “lowest rung" and “cannot say no to sex".
“Within that gang world, the girls are at the lowest rung and they have to do as they’re told. And that includes sexually," he said.
He said that girls are as young as 13 but “15 would be the upper limit".
“The reality is, if a girl can’t say no, she’s being raped and that’s how we look at it as the police," he said.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
