© South Derbyshire District Council Reverend Mike Firbank, Vicar at St George’s and St Mary’s Church in Church Gresley and lead chaplain for major incidents in Derby and Derbyshire

A leading reverend claims teenagers across Derbyshire are turning to “grooming” their friends for child sexual exploitation in a bid to clear gambling debts. The Reverend Mike Firbank, lead chaplain for major incidents across Derby and Derbyshire, said the situation was a “nightmare scenario”, with alleged known issues in towns and villages across the county – and nationwide.

He raised the concerns in a meeting of the South Derbyshire Partnership – a combination of health, school, council, emergency services and voluntary groups – on October 19. Mr Firbank, who is part of Churches Together in Swadlincote, working with communities across South Derbyshire, and a vicar at St George’s and St Mary’s Church in Church Gresley, said the situation facing children in the district was “sinister”.

He said: “The stuff we all thought was all going on pre-Covid, now we have got, this is national as well as local, teenagers who have been groomed to groom their own friends. Teenagers who are groomed into the new heroin which is gambling, so have huge debts, and then they are grooming their own teenage friends into child sexual exploitation and that is nationally. I could take you to Overseal, Walton, Melbourne and many other places in rural areas where it is happening right now today, and in Swadlincote, and everywhere else across the country.

“We are headed for a brick wall, my friends, in terms of mental health and safeguarding with our young people. We do not have the resources to support them and it is just going to get exponentially worse and worse. It is a nightmare scenario, just to emphasise that.”

Vicky Smyth, part of the public health team at Derbyshire County Council, said “gambling harm is seen as a significant public health issue” and the authority had just launched new training and advice for professionals aimed at countering the problem. Dave Beris, who works in the county council’s children’s services team, responded, saying: “If anybody is aware of any children who they consider to be at risk or aware of any incidents that are happening in the community, do go through Call Derbyshire, go through the police.

“You’ve mentioned a few places there, Mike, if you have any intelligence do contact the police and it will feed back to us. It guides our intelligence. NSPCC responds immediately as well. Any bits of snippets or information. We are trying to do what we can.”

He said schools were the “eyes and ears of our community” and were often the first to spot signs of issues facing children. Ahead of the reverend’s comments, Mr Beris had said: “There has been a rising level of demand for our service (children’s services), a rising level of need in our area.

“Particularly the impact of mental health across the board, turning to alcohol and substance abuse and domestic violence in the household, leading to family breakdown. There is a significant need in isolated communities that are hidden from public view.”

He said problems occurred in situations where children were “out of sight, out of mind”.