Sex abuser used vapes to groom 14-year-old girl

Disposable vapes are increasingly being used as a grooming tool

A 14-year-old girl has told the BBC she was sexually abused by an older man who groomed her by posing as a teenager offering to buy her vapes.

Chloe* said she and a "boy" messaged each other on Snapchat for several weeks before he promised to buy her some e-cigarettes if they met in person.

But when the young teenager from Manchester arrived at the agreed meeting place, she discovered he was actually a man in his late 20s.

It was the start of an abusive, sexually exploitative relationship that would go on for weeks.

A charity working with Chloe and other vulnerable teenagers said the promise of vapes was a tactic increasingly being used to lure children.

Chloe said the man also bought her expensive gifts, including Ugg boots and coats.

After a few weeks of meeting after school, the man invited Chloe back to his flat.

"He wanted me to do stuff... sexual stuff," she told the BBC North West Investigations Team. "And because he was my boyfriend, I went along with it.

"But then it started to get scary because the stuff he wanted me to do was a bit weird.

"A few times there was another guy in his flat, and it freaked me out.

"When I said I wanted to stop he threatened me, saying he would send pictures and even a film of me round to all my mates, and I kind of believed him."

'Coerced'

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) ran an operation in 2023 to crack down on the sale of illegal vapes.

The force said at the time that it "knew some offenders use objects which youngsters want but struggle to afford to access to incite criminal behaviour or sexual activity".

About 374,000 illegal vapes were seized by Trading Standards officers in Greater Manchester from April 2022 to March 2023 - about half of the 750,000 seized in the whole of England during that time.

Trading Standards said most of the illegal vapes it seized were designed to appeal to young children, with bright coloured containers shaped like strawberry milkshakes, packets of sweets or cans of pop.

Kate Pike, lead officer for vaping investigations, said some vape products were "unnecessarily attractive" to children.

She added: "If children want them they will be encouraged into unsafe activity in order to get them."

• How dangerous is vaping and what is the disposable vape ban?

Girls Out Loud, a UK charity supporting vulnerable teenage girls, said it had seen a rise in the number of children being groomed or coerced into criminal activity through the use of vapes.

Jane Kenyon runs the charity Girls Out Loud

Jane Kenyon, who founded the charity in Blackpool, says teenage girls do not always know that they are engaging in a relationship with someone when they accept vapes from them.

"It can lead to all sorts of criminal activities," she said.

"So they might be recruited into county lines [drug-dealing] or into criminal gangs that might sexually exploit them.

"And that can happen very quickly."

Children's commissioner for England Rachel De Souza

Rachel De Souza, the children's commissioner for England, said cracking down on vapes was her top priority and that she supported a ban on vaping for anyone under 18.

She said when she has visited children all around the country and talked to them about what their biggest concerns were, "vaping [was] always top of the list".

"They talk about how vapes are marketed at them, and it's absolutely terrible," she said.

"But, incredibly, even worse than that, adults are trying to tempt [children] with vapes and using them as a kind of currency to get near children."

Chloe eventually confided in a support worker at school and told them about the abuse she was suffering, and police were called in.

GMP said it worked with the local councils to "stop offenders in their tracks before they develop influence and power over vulnerable youngsters who they could harm".

A government spokesman said: "We will stop at nothing to make sure every child grows up in an environment that is safe and secure, and that includes taking bold and decisive action on smoking and vaping."

"Our new specialist police taskforce is cracking down on the despicable activity of grooming gangs, including by preventing and disrupting exploitation connected to vape shops," he added.

"We've also invested £6.5m in our Tackling Organised Exploitation programme, which is using data and intelligence to identify previously unknown networks."

*Not the victim's real name

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