Rise in number of girls being identified as victims in county lines exploitation, data shows
Charities suggest ‘gendered understanding’ of crime means services often fail to recognise girls and young women as victims
March 2025
Hot Chicks review – scorching account of county lines exploitation
Rebecca Jade Hammond’s assured drama about two girls groomed for drug trafficking switches between humour and terror
January 2025
Boys, gangs and the pressure to ‘be a man’
Letters: Following the killing of 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, Alison Verney and Angela Raven-Roberts write about the pressures being experienced by young boys
November 2024
Send crisis in England and Wales leaving children more vulnerable, says report
Experts point to increased risk of criminal and sexual exploitation and call for urgent action from government
July 2024
New law on child exploitation by drug dealers in Labour crime crackdown
New offences, laws and reforms across policing and justice system will be among plans outlined in king’s speech
June 2024
The Audio Long Read
From low-level drug dealer to human trafficker: are modern slavery laws catching the wrong people? – podcast
When I heard that a boy from my primary school had been convicted of trafficking, I had to find out what had happened to make him fall so far. By Francisco Garcia
April 2024
The long read
From low-level drug dealer to human trafficker: are modern slavery laws catching the wrong people?
The long read: When I heard that a boy from my primary school had been convicted of trafficking, I had to find out what had happened to make him fall so far
Today in Focus
The devil walking on Earth – part 2
Annie Kelly reports on the story of Sosa Henkoma, who was exploited by drug gangs as a child and now mentors young people at risk of gang violence
Today in Focus
The devil walking on Earth – part 1
Annie Kelly reports on the story of Sosa Henkoma, who was exploited by drug gangs as a child and now mentors young people at risk of gang violence
February 2024
British boys more at risk of modern slavery than any other group in UK, says study
Teenagers are coerced into committing crime for someone else’s benefit, according to social justice groups
December 2023
How we survive
I was trafficked by drug gangs as a child, shot at and stabbed 11 times. Here is how I escaped
Sosa Henkoma was eight when he ran away from violence at home - and just 12 when he was given his first gun. He describes how fatherhood, therapy and sheer luck saved him
November 2023
Police county lines strategy ‘cruelly targets’ black youth in UK
Home Office approach to tackling drug operations is based on ‘racialised tropes’, says new study
October 2023
EU warns of ‘child soldiers’ exploited by drug gangs
Young people are being ‘groomed to become killers’ as figures show half of homicides in bloc are drug-related
September 2023
Early intervention is key to protecting children from county lines gangs
Letter: Tracey Burley ofSt Giles Trust on the importance of working with schools to stop vulnerable minors being exploited by criminals in drug hotspots
August 2023
Hundreds of children thrown out of school in English county lines hotspots
Gangs target minors who are out of school and BBC report shows rise in exclusions and suspensions in biggest drug-exporting areas
June 2023
Record number of young in the UK ‘at risk of exploitation’ this summer
Barnardo’s fears the cost of living crisis will leave families unable to afford holiday activities, leaving children prey to sexual predators online and criminal gangs on the street
April 2023
The Silence and the Noise review – star-crossed romance along county lines
The daughter of an addict and a young man trapped in the drugs trade meet in an unsentimental tale that blends tenderness and tragedy
February 2023
‘Professional adverts’ for county lines ensnaring children on Instagram and Snapchat
Drugs traffickers changing methods to recruit children as young as seven, parliamentary education committee hears
January 2023
The car drew up. The children got in: UK child asylum-seekers’ narrow escape from kidnap
The Guardian view on young asylum seekers going missing: unsafe spaces
