A CHILD has reported being raped and sexually abused by different groups of men in Blackburn with Darwen.

The borough’s engage team, which aims to tackle child sexual exploitation, has launched an investigation into the claims, which were made last week by a girl under the age of 15.

They are also concerned about three friends of the girl, who could now be at risk due to their association with her, and are working to ensure they are safe.

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During a meeting at Blackburn Library, Nick McPartlan — the team’s manager — informed health commissioners of the case. He said the girl had reported being groomed by a number of different gangs, including being raped and abused.

He said that child sexual exploitation is an issue across the borough, including “nice areas” such as Cherry Tree, and the perpetrators are often “not who you might expect”.

Last year, the engage teams covering east Lancashire were hailed a major success story, having secured more than 500 convictions since being launched in 2006.

But while their budget has been protected during recent council cutbacks, Mr McPartlan said there are still concerns about their ability to track developments on numerous social-media websites.

Asked about funding, he said: “Are we current enough with some of the expectations? Possibly not. The difficulty is technology, because that is making it grow somewhat and you could end up with more and more.”

He also pointed to incidents taking place just outside the Lancashire border, suggesting this was “because the Greater Manchester response is somewhat different from ours”.

The team is working with ten youngsters in Blackburn with Darwen who are believed to have been sexually exploited. But he said the team is “hammering” various prevention initiatives to ensure other youngsters are safeguarded.

Blackburn with Darwen Council, which jointly runs the engage team, said in a statement after the meeting: “The team is well established to deal with the number of referrals and has no resource concerns.”

The engage team is based at Greenbank Police Station, Blackburn. It was set up as a multi-agency partnership in March 2008 to address child sexual exploitation in Blackburn and Darwen.

The group includes police officers, social-services workers and health and voluntary agencies. The team has been praised by the College of Police.