The short version
- Four women have publicly shared accounts of being targeted by drug gangs as minors, revealing parallel patterns of sexual violence and criminal coercion.
- Experts distinguish this abuse from grooming gang activity, noting that drug networks primarily exploit victims for profit through trafficking while also subjecting them to sexual assault.
- A recent government audit indicates authorities frequently fail to protect these victims, prompting plans to address the issue within an upcoming independent inquiry.
Four women have chosen to waive their anonymity to speak publicly about being targeted by criminal networks during their childhoods. Their accounts, which span from 2002 to last year, reveal strikingly similar patterns of abuse involving both sexual exploitation and forced participation in drug trafficking. While the specific details of their experiences differ, all four describe being manipulated into abusive relationships by boys or older men connected to drug gangs. They assert that authorities failed to protect them and did not take their allegations seriously when they sought help.
The BBC documentary Britain's Forgotten Girls features these testimonies to highlight a form of abuse that has long been overshadowed in public discourse by the focus on sexual grooming gangs. Connie Muttock from the children’s charity Centre for Young Lives explains that while grooming gangs primarily aim for sexual exploitation, drug gangs are motivated by profit. In these criminal enterprises, girls are brought in to generate money through drug sales and other illegal activities, but many are also sexually abused by gang members as part of the coercive control mechanism.
Christine, who moved to Coventry with her mother after her parents’ divorce, began exchanging messages online at age 13 with someone she believed was a teenage boy. Upon meeting him, she discovered he was a grown man ten years her senior and involved in gang activity. Despite knowing he had likely hurt others, she did not anticipate the severity of the abuse directed at her. Over several years, he used her to courier drugs and subjected her to extreme sexual exploitation and violent assault that left her fearing for her life.
Annie from south-east London describes a similar trajectory where initial attention from three older boys involved in drugs turned into coercion. She felt excited by their interest initially, unaware of the danger. The situation escalated when the group got her drunk and repeatedly raped her, photographing the abuse to use as leverage. They threatened to share the images if she did not comply with demands for more sexual encounters with additional people. This cycle of rape and intimidation continued for years.
Holly from Manchester recounts being recruited by a gang as a child to sell drugs in the city center and later deliver them across the UK, including locations as far as Carlisle and London. The National Crime Agency notes that gangs often exploit girls because they believe women are less likely to be suspected of dealing or stopped during searches. Holly says she was sexually assaulted numerous times by gang members, eventually convincing herself that the abuse meant she was wanted and part of a caring family unit.
The escalation of abuse in these cases often follows a pattern where initial affection or friendship is used to lower defenses before coercion begins. Christine describes how on her 14th birthday, her boyfriend asked her to sleep with his friends to help him out, framing it as a necessity. This became an expectation that she would sleep with other men connected to the gang. The sexual and physical abuse continued for more than eight years, characterized by repeated rape and violence.
Front-line social workers and experts point out that rape and pimping are common in the violent, hyper-masculine environment of drug gangs. Muttock states that as long as drug gangs have existed in the UK, girls have been abused and coerced within them. A 2012 report identified these patterns of abuse, but those involved say it failed to generate sufficient response or change in how authorities handle such cases.
A recent government audit of group-based sexual abuse and exploitation in England and Wales found that authorities often fail these victims. The BBC understands that the issue of drug gang exploitation will be tackled in an independent inquiry set up in response to the audit. This development suggests a potential shift in how institutions address the dual nature of criminal and sexual exploitation faced by young women in these contexts.
Sources behind this briefing
Go to the original reporting
- BBC News↗Drug gangs exploited and raped us as teens, then police failed us, women tell BBC
