Family thanks service for helping teenage son exploited by county lines gang

“We have got our boy back.”

These are the powerful words of a father whose teenage son was supported by Shropshire’s substance misuse service after a drug habit trapped him in a cycle of exploitation by a county lines gang.

The boy was just 14 when he was threatened at knifepoint in a staged robbery which sent him into a spiral of ever-growing debt to dealers who had built up his trust after he started using cannabis.

Three years on, he and his parents have praised the work of the young people’s drug and alcohol service, provided by charity We Are With You on behalf of Shropshire Council, for helping them through their ordeal.

The council’s strategic commissioner for drug and alcohol services, Jayne Randall, told a meeting of the people overview committee that “anybody’s child” could be drawn in by the dealers’ tactics.

The committee was shown a film from a Channel 4 News programme in November 2020 in which a family from Shrewsbury spoke of how they had been forced to keep panic alarms in their home and paid out thousands of pounds to try and free their son from the clutches of a drug gang.

Ms Randall told members that the boy’s involvement with the gang started with “a £10 bag of cannabis”.

She said: “There were a number of missed opportunities that might have prevented his exploitation and becoming trapped in debt bondage.

“From a parental perspective, the first thing that they noticed was a real change in his behaviour at home but mostly in school. He started to show a lack of interest in his education, the sports clubs that he used to attend he was no longer attending.

“I think it’s really, really difficult as we all know that through the teenage years young people change.

“What started to happen was his behaviour at school started to result in some short-term exclusions and that was for things like walking out of school, ignoring teachers’ requests, small scuffles with other students.

“He started to show a sign of cockiness that had not been around before – but again it’s difficult when there are lots of other changes going on with a young person – and he had started to smoke cannabis.

“Quite often cannabis smoking is recreational, but it does appear to be one of the drugs that the criminal gangs use to build relationships with young people at first, and then use that to then exploit them.

“The period of him becoming trapped in debt bondage was apparently around six months.

“The parents paid off the first debt which was £150, but this grew and he was trapped in the debt bondage for a total of about 18 months.”

Research commissioned by the charity from the University of Chester has found the average age of young people drawn into exploitation by drug gangs in Shropshire to be around 15 years old.

Ms Randall said most victims are male and attend mainstream school.

She said: “There is always a risk that anybody’s child, regardless of family background, can become embroiled in it.”

There is a particular risk with young people who are “under the radar”, in that they are not already known to police or children’s services.

Now 17 and in college, the young man featured in the film has thanked the service for helping him.

Messages from his parents to We Are With You support workers were read to the committee.

His mother said: “I know you have been so pivotal in his progress, for which I really can’t thank you enough.

“I can’t describe how wonderful and emotional it feels that he has come so far and no longer needs your support.

“In the midst of it all, this day did not seem possible.”

His father said: “Thank you so much for your support through this.

“Our son is a totally different person and so much happier.

“It’s fantastic to see we have got our boy back.”