 | | | | |  | |  | Thousands of children suffer sexual abuse by adults known to them |  | | |  |
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Most likely targets for online enticement are teenagers aged between 13 and 17 | | | | | 
Children are abused again and again for the camera | |
| | | | | My child and the
paedophile ring
Many abused children find it difficult to speak out and as a result their abuse remains hidden.
'Claire' is the mother of a victim of sexual abuse. In her late teens, her daughter confided that she had been repeatedly abused.
"She was routinely photographed during abuse. When something like this happens in your family you're absolutely devastated."
"It calls in to question of course how good you were as a parent and how could this possibly happen and my child not tell me?"
"What kind of an awful parent was I that my communication with my child was so poor that she didn't turn to me and say "hey, I want to tell you something that I don't like but it's happening to me."
"She actually said, "you know nothing will be the same again - you realise that. If you support me nothing will be the same again: the family will be split.""
"And that has proved to be so."
Claire went on to set up a group called the League Against Sadistic Abuse (LASA) with the aim of helping abused children and their families.
Although recognising the offensive nature of all abuse, LASA focuses on children who have suffered abuse in a group situation where, "there were frequently many perpetrators and many victims present at the same time."
Describing the frightening situations that often surround abuse, Clare comments, "It is a scene of indescribable terror to a young three, four or five year old.
"Imagine the child who is abused and then he is abused again in the same way because they didn't get quite a good enough picture the first time."
"In these very sadistic ways, that often involve the use of urine and faeces and other bodily products, the child is totally demeaned and will be again and again for the camera." |
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