New drive to combat child-sex grooming

ONE of the posters designed to raise awareness among the young

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A crackdown on child sex exploitation has led to 19 arrests across Greater Manchester.

Operation Phoenix is the latest drive to deal with the growing menace of sexual grooming, by turning up the heat on perpetrators and raising awareness among the young.

A new website - www.itsnotokay.co.uk - was launched today with information on spotting the signs of child sex exploitation.

The launch of the It’s Not Okay campaign follows a week of action across the region. In Oldham, a play exploring child sex exploitation was performed to youngsters at North Chadderton school.

“Somebody’s Sister, Somebody’s Daughter” by Mossley-based GW Theatre aims to spark conversation to aid uderstanding and ways to get help for themselves or their friends.

Alison Cheetham, deputy head at North Chadderton, highlighted the importance of raising awareness and of allowing students to discuss issues: “We have had a big push on staff training and we had recent examples of students who were being exploited. We now have a key person at the school, working with vulnerable young people, explaining the risks and letting students know we will help them.”

The play, which began touring last summer, has been performed in more than 100 schools nationwide and has helped 50 victims to come forward about their own exploitation.

Company creative director Dave Jones said: “The play engages with young people by looking at grooming, sexting and pictures sent on phones and the Internet. It’s a powerful performance that has a very strong message. It allows them to see where the help is.”

DS Lindsey Curry from GMP said: “It’s about recognising there’s a problem. It’s an extremely complex issue and we have to provide the right service. No one agency on its own can deal with it.”

For more information visit www.itsnotokay.co.uk.


READ the Chronicle next week to discover how Oldham is tackling child sex abuse in the borough.