FOLLOWING a Lancashire Telegraph investigation into the grooming of girls for sex by gangs of men, the police, council and other agencies set up a special operation to combat the crime. We spoke to one of the victims helped by staff from Engage. Here, the 14-year-old tells how the team rescued her from a life of hell.

FREYA was a girl who would wolf-whistle across the street at boys she fancied, and then burst into fits of giggles.

Months later such inno-cence had been stolen from her. She had been abused and terrified, groomed into a sickening child sexual exploitation ring.

Freya was showered with gifts, drugs then alcohol.Then the men turned nasty and made her give sexual favours in return.

Freya, not her real name, said: “I used to go out into town with my friends at night.

“If I saw a boy I fancied, I’d whistle as loudly as I could across the street to attract their attention, then burst out laughing when they turned to look.

It was nothing serious, just a bit of a laugh.

“Afterwards, I was fright-ened, but felt trapped. The men made me feel like I was ‘damaged goods’ and no-one else would want me.”

This case is typical of a problem that has been identified in East Lancs.

In 2006 a Lancashire Telegraph investigation revealed the problem of girls being befriended by predominantly Asian groups of men, who shower them with gifts and attention then give them drink and drugs.

We found the teens were then forced to perform sex acts in return — sometimes with more than 10 men a night. As a result, we launched the Keep Them Safe Campaign to raise awareness and encourage law enforcement. Police ran an initial crackdown and then, 17 months after our investigation, Engage was set up to tackle the problem.

Engage involves workers from Blackburn with Darwen Council. Lancashire Police and representatives from Brook and drug and alcohol charity Lifeline and Barnardo’s.

The team comprises two police officers, a drugs worker, sexual health advi-ser and two social workers. Its work ranges from patrolling ‘hot spot’ areas, issuing warning notices to suspected perpetrators, to providing counselling and support for victims and preventative initiatives such as training and issuing information. Freya said: “I’m starting to realise that none of this is my fault and my life doesn’t have to be this way.

“I’ve been meeting the sexual exploitation worker every week and we do worksheets, craft stuff and go out for picnics and she talks to me about sexual exploitation and helps with my self harming.

“I really want to warn other girls about what can happen. My message is, these men are only after one thing and once you’ve done it, they get rid of you.

“It’s happened to me and my family. Please don’t let it happen to you.”

Freya said she had decided to speak out in a bid to prevent other girls like her from becoming victims.

And she revealed the grooming techniques of the gangs. She became involved with a boy after he asked for her number at a train station.

“Soon he started ringing me all the time to meet up in a back alley,” Freya said.

“Then I met a 26-year-old man who was a friend of my sister’s boyfriend.

"It was clear he only wanted one thing. He kept ringing and pestering me to come out and bring my mate.

“These men give girls like me pills and coke so we’ll do what they want and you’re in trouble if you don’t.”

Gladys Rhodes, deputy director of children’s services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said they wanted to get the message out about ‘unacceptable, criminal behaviour’.

She said: “Our aim is that offenders will realise they are wasting their time trying to groom our young people, either because the young people will be aware of the issue and will have the confidence to report them, or because they know it’s only a matter of time before they are prosecuted.”