BRITAIN is still shying away from confronting the extent of sexual exploitation of children and women, a conference has been told.

The Voice for Justice Tackling Sexual Exploitation conference took place at St Aldate’s Church on Saturday.

Dozens of delegates heard from speakers including psychologist Dr Josephine-Joy Wright, MPs Jim Dobbin and Michael Connarty and Sgt David Turtle of the Metropolitan Police.

Dr Wright said organisations and individuals in Britain needed to get better at spotting the signs of abuse and exploitation, and realise the problem is everywhere.

She said: “We still in Britain have the mentality of ‘not in my back yard’.

“We prefer to think that if you don’t think about this stuff it will go away.”

She talked about patients she had seen after years of abuse – some of whom suffered lasting physical damage, and others who were suffered mental scars – turning to a fantasy world to escape the truth and horror of the past.

She said: “I have several young ladies who will never bear a child because of injuries caused internally. It’s not fair that their futures are defined by the past. One young lady said she used to go up into the clouds when she was being raped repeatedly.”

But Dr White added: “I am a great believer that being damaged doesn’t make you a cast-off for life.

Sgt Turtle said the current approach to trafficking was not working, and that the courts were repeatedly prosecuting victims for crimes they commit while they are being trafficked.

He said: “Here in the UK we may well be convicting and deporting more victims of trafficking than perpetrators.

“The current approach to stopping trafficking has not worked, that much is clear. Ensuring that current laws are enforced is better than adding new ones.

“The question is what steps can we take to reduce the evils of this foul trade?

“Let’s start waking up to the fact that there are brothels literally operating on your doorstep. It’s about time we started using antisocial behaviour legislation to start cracking down on premises that exploit people for profit.

“The fight will continue, but evil flourishes when good men and women do nothing.”

Greater Manchester Labour and Co-operative MP Jim Dobbin added: “Sadly, the problem in my view has been a lack of communication and a lack of co-ordination of the agencies that actually deal with these problems.”

The conference comes as the trial of nine men accused of sexually exploiting girls in Oxford is entering its final phase. Evidence from the prosecution and the defence has finished, and summing up in the Bullfinch trial will resume tomorrow.