'Girls as young as 12 are being sold for sex often by older and abusive boyfriends, according to the children's charity Barnardo's.
Delegates attending a conference in Liverpool heard that men are controlling, coercing, assaulting, raping and in extreme cases torturing children.
But instead of being arrested and convicted, the legal system is effectively failing to prosecute these men.
It seems men woo young girls and then abuse them.'