THE shocking extent of child prostitution will be revealed today by a North-East girl, describing how she was paid £500 to have sex with celebrities when she was only 12.

The girl, from Middlesbrough, was hawked around Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds by her middle-aged pimp to be exploited by what she described as "high payers" and "sometimes celebrities".

Today, at the launch of a national report in London into the scale of the problem, the North-East girl will be among 41 other young people telling of their harrowing experiences.

The report, compiled by Barnardo's, demands Government help and reveals how statutory agencies, such as health and education services, are failing to identify vulnerable and exploited young people.

Recent research in the North-East by Barnardo's has found that more than 140 prostitutes and rent boys under the age of 18 are operating in Cleveland alone, a statistic which confirms Teesside's reputation as the sex trade capital of the North.

In the report, More Than One Chance, the Middlesbrough girl, known as Claire, declined to name the celebrities she had been forced to have sex with.

The care home runaway, who is now 19, has turned her life around and works as a volunteer with the SECOS (Sexually Exploited Children On the Streets) run by Barnardo's on Teesside.

According to Wendy Shepherd, children's services manager at SECOS, 130 girls and 12 boys, aged between 12 and 18, are selling their bodies on Teesside.

Last night, she said: "It's valuable having Claire here. Other girls can see someone who's been through it, come out the other end, has survived and is happy."

Claire's story began when she was 12 and already feeding a heroin addition. Her home life had always been difficult and she ran away.

Claire got involved in prostitution through a friend. At first she sat in the backs of cars while her friend did business.

"I got £5 to take the registration number and be her safety back up," she says.

It was better than being at home and being beaten by her father.

Once she was put into care, Claire found that at the children's home she was sent to, girls were being exploited through prostitution by older boyfriends to feed their drug addiction. And at this stage she became more involved in prostitution.

It was easy money, according to Claire, especially when she was taken by her pimp, a man in his late 40s, to major UK cities where "high payers" were paying £500 a night.

Then one day, aged 14, she found herself alone - most of her friends were dead or hopelessly ensnared by hard drugs. Some had been kidnapped or murdered.

"I thought that was what lay ahead of me," she says. "I looked at my whole life - everything - and I thought 'what's it for?'."

The decision to change her life totally came when she discovered she was pregnant and decided to break away from the street life and go cold turkey.

Her fightback started in the children's home. She recalls: "I had to do it myself. The staff knew what I was doing, checked up on me and brought me food and drink. But I was determined to do it myself with willpower.''

Claire now chats to prostitutes who call in at the SECOS drop-in centre and has accompanied staff on outreach work on Middlesbrough's streets.

Claire says: "Some of the girls coming into the drop-in centre are girls I was with at the children's home who are still out there.

"When they see what a difference I've made to my life, I think it might give them some hope.''