MORE than 150 North-East children have been subjected to devastating sexual exploitation, a charity has claimed.

But even that shocking figure, which includes 124 young victims from Teesside, eight from Darlington and 19 from Newcastle, hides the true scale of the problem, as it counts only those children referred to one charity – Barnardo’s – and even their work is limited by staff numbers.

The scandalous extent of the issue was revealed in Durham yesterday, as experts gathered for a major conference.

Lianne Livingstone, from Barnardo’s, called for sexual exploitation to be treated as child abuse and tighter controls to be introduced to prevent child trafficking across the EU.

“Child sexual exploitation does exist in the North-East.

This isn’t a choice made by young people.

“They are manipulated into this by very clever abusers.

Sexual exploitation is child abuse and should be treated as such,” she said.

Ms Livingstone told the conference, held at The Durham Centre, in Belmont, that sexual exploitation, which often sees children perform sex acts for money, drugs, alcohol or accommodation, represents more than a third of all child exploitation across the UK.

Additionally, many children are currently being trafficked in from Romania, she added.

Ms Livingstone showed shocking images of child sex details scrawled on public toilets and told how a vulnerable 14-year-old girl runaway had been sold to a Teesside businessman for £40.

Recent figures from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre suggest that at least 300 children are trafficked into the UK each year.

Sheila Taylor, director of the national working group for sexual exploitation and the conference’s key speaker, said: “Child exploitation is endemic in our society and we need to deal with it.

“I can see homicide or terrorism might take precedence, but this is on a par with what we know as a child abuse. It has to be high on everybody’s agenda.

“This is a very serious matter which is underestimated across the UK.”

Delegates called for greater awareness of the issue, better training for professionals in spotting the signs of sexual exploitation and more education for families, communities and businesses.