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Telford men in court for trafficking girls in UK
Ground-breaking case alleges girls were transported to various locations for sex
Eight men from the Pakistani community in Telford, Shropshire appeared in court on Friday charged with a wide range of serious sexual offences, including trafficking girls within the UK for sexual exploitation.
It is the first time anyone has appeared in court in Britain charged under Article 58 of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act, which outlaws trafficking within the UK.
The ground-breaking appearance at Shrewsbury Crown Court was the result of a major police investigation into the alleged grooming and sexual abuse of young girls.
The campaign My Dangerous Loverboy commented last April, following the arrest of five of the Telford men, that the charges brought against them represented "a really significant breakthrough" in the recognition of internal trafficking as a real issue in Britain today.
"The girls are disoriented, cut off from family and friends and systematically raped by large groups of men," Virginia Heath wrote on the campaign group's website. "They often wake up with no idea of where they are in the UK, let alone how to escape this nightmare world."
The men in court yesterday deny more than 50 charges against them. According to the Shropshire Star, the alleged offences took place between 2007 and 2009.
The "internal trafficking" charges relate to the alleged transport of girls to a variety of locations - including a college, a fish and chip shop and a churchyard - where men paid to have sex with them. Police claim the girls were not always paid cash in exchange for sex, but instead were given food, alcohol and mobile-phone credit.
The 50-plus charges include two of causing child prostitution and two of meeting a child after sexual grooming. The sexual abuse of one of the girls is said to have begun when she was 13.
The trial of the eight men, plus a ninth who was not well enough to attend court yesterday, is scheduled to begin at Stafford Crown Court in mid-May, and is expected to last three months.
Yesterday's court appearance came in the wake of a controversial statement made earlier this month by the Labour politician Jack Straw about the growing problem of young girls being groomed for sex. The former Home Secretary said that some British men of Pakistani descent see young white girls as "easy meat".
Straw's claim was met with fury by some fellow politicians, though certain Muslim commentators say he was right to raise the issue. ·
