Children Banned From City Centre At Night

Children under 16 have been banned from going into a city centre in North Wales at night in a bid to crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

The move in Bangor, Gwynedd, means under-16s who are not accompanied by an adult are barred from the streets from 9pm to 6am.

North Wales Police and Gwynedd County Council took the controversial step after complaints about groups drinking alcohol on the streets and harassing residents.

Police inspector Simon Barrasford said: "Dispersal orders have proved an effective weapon against anti-social behaviour in other parts of the force and can demonstrate how partnership working can be most effective.

"Many people are working very hard to improve and regenerate the city centre as well as just wanting to enjoy their daily lives without being intimidated or harassed and I have no doubt dispersal orders areas will assist in that endeavour.

"Drinking in public has an adverse effect not only on visitors' perception but also on the quality of life of residents. Working closely with our partners in the local authorities I'm confident that we can have a positive impact on the area."

The ban, which is scheduled to last six months, gives police (including police community support officers) powers to order groups of two or more to leave the area.

Failure to comply could lead to up to three months imprisonment and or a fine of up to £2,500.

Catherine Roberts, senior community safety officer, said: "The use of a dispersal order within Gwynedd is likely to be an effective means of reducing anti-social behaviour.

"Simply by introducing such orders is not in itself the solution as there is a great deal of hard work involved in making these orders effective, and we are fortunate to have a very good working relationship with our colleagues in North Wales Police, when dealing with such issues.

"Of course it does not stop there, the support of the community is essential so that any improvements are maintained in the longer term."

Rochdale Grooming Case Is 'Tip Of Iceberg'

The "sadistic, violent and ugly" sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country, according to the United Kingdom's deputy children's commissioner.

In evidence to MPs at the Home Affairs Select Committee , Sue Berelowitz listed shocking examples of abuse she had discovered as part of an in-depth study of the problem.

"What I am uncovering is that sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country," she told the cross-party committee.

"In urban, rural and metropolitan areas, I have hard evidence of children being sexually exploited. It is very sadistic, it is very violent, it is very ugly."

Focusing on London as an example, she drew on individual cases she and her team had uncovered.

"There are parts of London where certainly children expect to have to perform oral sex on line-ups of boys, up to two hours at a time from the age of 11.

At times, Ms Berelowitz's evidence appeared to shock MPs. She said it was "quite common" for girls to be lured via internet chat rooms to meet a 'friend'.

The victims would then be met by groups of boys and gang raped in a park.

"Then another group of boys come, they take her to another part of the park and she is serially raped again. I wish I could say to you that such things are uncommon but I'm afraid they are quite common."

Ms Berelowitz was appearing at the select committee hearing in which MPs are looking specifically at cases of child exploitation and grooming in Rochdale following the conviction of nine men in April.

During the gang's trial at Liverpool Crown Court it emerged that the men, who are of Pakistani and Afghan origin, had plied the five girls with fast food, drink and drugs so they could "pass them around" and use them for sex.

The abuse happened in and around Rochdale in 2008 and 2009 and centred on two takeaway restaurants which are now under new management.

One 13-year-old victim fell pregnant and had the child aborted. Another teenager recalled being raped by two men while she was so drunk she was vomiting over the side of the bed.

Ms Berelowitz said she agreed when committee chairman Keith Vaz MP said the Rochdale case appeared to be the "tip of the iceberg".

"As one police officer who was the lead in a very big investigation in a very lovely, leafy, rural part of the country said to me: there isn't a town, village or hamlet in which children are not being sexually exploited," she said.

"The evidence that has come to the fore during the course of my inquiry is that that, unfortunately, appears to be the case."

The chief constable of Greater Manchester Police and two top councillors from the local council also appeared at the hearing.

Chief constable Peter Fahy was asked whether his officers were slow to investigate the Rochdale cases because they feared a backlash from the large Asian community in the area.

"If there is a feeling of a reluctance in police action that was not because of any feeling of fear about community tensions or political correctness," he said.

But he told the MPs that looking at sexual offences as a whole, "Asian men do not feature disproportionately".

"If you look at this kind of offence [grooming], on the streets, then clearly Asian men do feature disproportionately."

The leader of Rochdale's Labour-run council , Colin Lambert, said that race was by no means the whole story.

"If their clear statement is that the crime was committed because of the Asian community, then I strongly disagree with them, because it's too easy to badge a crime.

"It happens right across all our communities. In terms of badging it as an Asian crime, that's wrong. There are issues in all communities."