According to some of the mothers, a fear of being branded racist makes many of the police and social services reluctant to investigate the crimes as organised and connected. One mother from Rotherham, whose 14-year-old daughter was groomed into prostitution and multiply raped during a 12-month period, told me that almost every man convicted of these crimes in the north of England is from Pakistan but that the authorities insist that it is not relevant. 

There are, however, a growing number of individuals within the Muslim communities who are willing to speak out against the criminals. Mohammed Shafiq, the director of the Lancashire-based Ramadhan Foundation, a charity working for peaceful harmony between different ethnic communities, advocates better education about sexual exploitation to be disseminated through imams and other community leaders. 

"I was one of the first within the Muslim community to speak out about this, four years ago," says Shafiq, "and at the time I received death threats from some black and Asian people. But what I said has been proved right — that if we didn't tackle it there would be more of these abusers and more girls getting harmed."

Shafiq says he is "disgusted" to hear some perpetrators refer to their victims as "white trash". He adds: "I say to them, would you treat your sister or daughter like this?"

Joyce Thacker, the strategic director of the children and young people's services directorate at Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, has a vast amount of experience in dealing with sexual exploitation of young people. She says that it is "interesting" to note that most of the men involved are Asian but that it is primarily an issue of the abuse of children by older men.

"What about the younger boys who are sent to befriend the girls in the first place?" says Thacker, "Are they also victims of abuse? Certainly we need to ensure that more work is done within all communities that explores positive, healthy relationships, or these young men may end up being the abusers themselves."

Rotherham-based Apna Haq offers support for women and their children suffering domestic abuse. Its director Zlakha Ahmed told me that much of the community express their disgust at what came out in the recent trial in private and that there needs to be more public discussion of the issues. "This abuse is appalling and needs to be raised within the community. There are still people denying that it happens so the more of us who speak out about it the better."

Emma Jackson is now 22 and devotes much of her time raising awareness about grooming networks among child-protection workers, police officers and the general community. Much remains to be done, she says, to end the complacency in dealing with the criminal gangs. "I didn't have much help from police or agencies because grooming and sexual exploitation had not been recognised and understood when it happened to me. Now it has, I think it's important that all agencies work together to protect these children and their families to help stamp out the problem."

These gangs will be allowed to operate with impunity if we deny their existence in some sort of twisted attempt to be anti-racist and culturally sensitive. Some people, including many white liberals, are loath to admit what it is going on. If we do not tackle the problem head-on, and work together to combat this dreadful abuse of children, the only beneficiaries will be the extremists.