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11:09am Wednesday 26th March 2008
A TELEVISION documentary is to chart the problem of teenage prostitution in East Lancashire.
The Panorama show, Teenage Sex for Sale,' will look at the way police and community groups have tried to combat young girls being forced into selling themselves after being groomed by older men.
The problem of sexual grooming was first highl-ighted by the Lancashire Telegraph in 2006, when we launched our Keep Them Safe Campaign.
It aims to raise awareness of the problem of local girls who are befriended by predominantly Asian groups of men, who shower them with gifts and attention then give the youngsters drink and drugs. The teens are then forced to perform sex acts in return - sometimes with more than 10 men a night.
The documentary features the story of Zulfar Hussain, 46, from Blackburn, and Qaiser Naveed, 32, from Burnley. The pair were jailed in August 2007 for five years and eight months for "exploiting" vulnerable under-16s, having taken girls away from the legal control of social services. It also looks at the work being done by Blackburn's Engage team - a group formed by the police, council, the Lancashire Safeguarding Children's board and other young people's organisations.
The team track down offenders and offer support and protection to young victims and their families.
Matthew Hill, assistant producer of the Panorama programme, said: "We want-ed to do this documentary because of the scale of the problem. Home Office figures suggest there are over 5,000 children in prostitution in the UK. We wanted to highlight the issue because it is more complex and sinister than people imagine."
The documentary will air on Thursday at 10.35pm on BBC1.
l Victims can call the Engage team on 01254 267790 for support and advice.
master dee, says...
3:53am Thu 17 Apr 08
Jjjj-Ashamed 2 put my name, Accrington says...
9:30am Tue 15 Apr 08
Jjjj wrote:U've been watching too much TV Brother! U seen 11 yr olds getting married?!!! I see more 11 yr olds getting raped and abused (family abuse) by the White people. And ppl of God dont do these acts, they not...This guy in particular was known by many in Blackburn and he was a druggy, alcoholic and all his mates were White, I dont think he even knew what Islam was, So how is he a man of God?...u would'nt say IRA were ppl of God yet the Catholic Irish terrorised UK shorelands!!! Ignorance is not an excuse, learn about the real Muslims and then talk and not what u assume or see rubbish on TV. BTW Peace Be Upon Him (Jesus)
This type of thing to them seems just fine.....because they are doing it to there own anyway....sleeping and marrying cousins....as young as 11....its sick and its about time a new task force with the appropriate powers is created to tackle this immoral and disgusting behaviour....call themselves people of god...Jesus Christ help US!
Jjjj, London says...
4:47pm Sat 12 Apr 08
mr mr, rossendale says...
4:08am Sat 12 Apr 08
Mohammed, Blackburn says...
1:24am Sun 6 Apr 08
Muslimah, says...
8:52pm Sat 29 Mar 08
No longer the lemming, Burnley says...
10:08am Sat 29 Mar 08
TMB, Burnley says...
1:45am Sat 29 Mar 08
lydia, nelson says...
5:09pm Fri 28 Mar 08
James K, Pendle says...
2:11pm Fri 28 Mar 08
Michael Paulson, Lancs. says...
2:09pm Fri 28 Mar 08
Claire, Blackburn says...
12:09pm Fri 28 Mar 08
Teresa, Darwen says...
11:07am Fri 28 Mar 08
Brian, London says...
9:07am Fri 28 Mar 08
andy hall wrote:Identifying who is involved is a vital step in dealing with the issue - especially if it is racial which this clearly is - despite attempts by some to pretend otherwise. If the racial aspect is ignored the problem will not be resolved. Al that will happen is that 'political correctness' wins and the losers are the White childen being pimped by Asian men.
I don't care whether those responsible are asian, white, black or yellow, Muslim,hindu,jew or christian, all i expect is the police to treat this problem seriously and stamp it out.I do believe though that there is a reluctance by the police to effectively police the asian community!
realist, ermmmmm says...
12:04am Fri 28 Mar 08
David, Bristol says...
11:42pm Thu 27 Mar 08
andy hall, Bradford says...
11:07pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Peter, Kent says...
7:20pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Anon, Lancashire says...
6:02pm Thu 27 Mar 08
John H, says...
1:21pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Paul, Nelson says...
1:19pm Thu 27 Mar 08
Clive, London says...
11:19am Thu 27 Mar 08
Observer1, Lancashire says...
11:15pm Wed 26 Mar 08
queens park resident, blackburn says...
8:51pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Billy, Burnley says...
8:24pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Merlin, The Voice of Reason, Ramsbottom says...
8:03pm Wed 26 Mar 08
iank wrote:Ian, you clearly have not comprehended my main point, which was in response to Fred's original post (which was overtly racist and therefore removed by the LT).
What a moron Merlin is. He says it is not a matter of race then explains exactly why it is a matter of race! Laughable were it not so serious. You can bet 100% that this documentary will try to implicate some white men in this case in order to satisfy the PC brigade. Also must say that most, if not all of these girls would be sexually active anyway, so they\'re not innocents in all this. It takes a certain kind of girl that would perform acts in this way!
Lee, Blackburn says...
7:24pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Merlin, The Voice of Reason wrote:Very well said, and you are Wright what you have wrote apart from the fact that grooming is predominately done by Asian men on young vulnerable white kids so it is a race issue. I am also concerned about the lack of Asian input about this problem which says to me this is a bigger issue than we think.
Unlike Fred, I do not wish to make this a matter to do with race, for it is not. so, let me be as clear as I can be. The sexual urge is the most basic human instinct, and when religion (and/or culture) represses it, it manifests itself in an ugly, wicked and perverted way. This applies to both the Church and to the Muslim community. Hence the reason for widespread incidents of child pornography and paedophilia within the Church. In this case, we have groups of repressed asian guys, forbidden from expressing and experiencing themselves sexually, from a very early age, trying to find an outlet for their repression in a very vile and evil way. They "use" white girls, in this case under age young girls, who are "easy" prey for them, to manipulate for their own gratification. Shame on them. They would not do this with girls from within their "own community" because it could not happen in public and would not be tolerated. This story is extremely disturbing and sickening. Asian youth, along with young people from ALL faiths, must be taught about sexual matters in an open way and allowed to feel their feelings as normal, natural feelings.
Standards, Not on the streets says...
7:20pm Wed 26 Mar 08
imtiaz, blackburn says...
3:12pm Wed 26 Mar 08
quotebecause most of these poor girls have been let down by their own families and the judicial system.Unfortunately we live in a society were there are sick individuals around every corner but this does not mean we should tar everyone with the same brush and it is extremely worrying when we have individuals like Ray and Robert who seem to be stereotyping one and all be it for colour reasons or religion.I myself am Indian but 50% of my friends happen to be Pakistani's and they too are as disgusted as am i.
iank, Darwen says...
3:05pm Wed 26 Mar 08
lydia, nelson says...
2:07pm Wed 26 Mar 08
ray, 262-926 says...
1:19pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Ray, Blackburn says...
1:13pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Merlin, The Voice of Reason, Ramsbottom says...
12:29pm Wed 26 Mar 08
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Sarwan Singh, says...
7:29pm Sun 20 Apr 08
firstly i must say i\'m delighted panorama have decided to expose this, after it has been constantly swept under the rug, despite a telegraph campaign thing last year (or year before). Not a race thing? This is. Yes you get \'white\' paedophiles and black \'paedophiles\' etc. but for some reason these men are not charged with the same crime. It is an asian problem, stemming from many cultural reasons which people are afraid to criticise, in fear of being labelled \'racist.\' The main problem has been identified as arranged marriages, especially with foreign spouses, hence unhappy marriages and then these sexually unhappy men looking elsewhere. Asian omen/girls are taken or won\'t even consider extra-marital/pre-ma rital sex (usually) and the same can be said for a relationship in general regarding a relationship for \'white\' girls/women with these (asian) men. Eas prey? children, ususally deprived ec. who are wooed into relationships and then stuck in them due to their addictions, not out of choice. Breaking the addicion is difficult and so must be fuelled; money, hence prostitution, organised or personal. So easily are lives ruined. It would be impossible for me o be a supporter of the BNP. I\'m asian nand muslim. But, the only people who have really spoken up about this are the BNP, but with all the stigma attached to them their voice is not all tha loud. Activities of such men are sick and heinous. Muslims? they ignore it, due to a common lack of respect shown for women and especially \'white\' women. Many non-asians ignore this for the same reason, branding these girls \'chavs,\' \'slags\' etc. Do they deserve this? Their lives being ruined? This behaviour is immoral, andalthough i write as a disgusted britons, Muslims should be disgusted above all, and should be at the fore of tackling this. But they are not. Some muslim cleric or whatever said in the news once that the BNP use this as propaganda, WHY NOT? Muslims don\'t seem to see the problem. There is a problem. What is the solution? Fisrtly there MUST be tougher sentences-charge them not only with grooming, but drug supply and paedophilia; thats a lengthy sentence. But even the CPS won\'t do this as it would appear \'racist.\' Not prosecuting them and reporting this is racist, to both white and asian people, as it victimises the white and keeps the asian affiliated withthis filth. God forbid I \'find\' one of these men. it is alright for muslims to groom young white girls.But,why don't they groom there own young teenagers of there same faith.These people don't have no respect for there religion and humanity.If they done this kind of things in majority muslim countries they would stoned or lashed to death.The judge only gave them 5 and half years.When them two people out of prison they will start over again.Why not have them emigrated back to pakistan never allowed back into the U.K..The law in this country is totally beyond recongnition.