UP to 10 children a night are being exploited by criminals in Swindon the Adver can reveal.

Police say they are having to rescue several vulnerable youngsters every night in the town.

Now police officers and council social workers are working to piece together the relationships between dangerous gang members and Swindon children.

The work is so important that, before Christmas, Wiltshire Police assigned another officer to work exclusively on criminal exploitation.

And councillors heard that children were targeted by criminal gangs linked to the so called “county lines” drugs networks. Police officers have seen groups from London and other big cities move into Swindon in a bid to expand their drug dealing operation. 

Vulnerable adults and children from Swindon are being forced into the trade – either housing dealers or being persuaded to sell drugs on their behalf.

Coun Bob Wright told the borough’s overview and scrutiny committee that police had warned Labour councillors that around 10 vulnerable children were absconding across the county every night. Several were linked to criminal activity, he said.

But Fionuala Foley, cabinet member for children’s services, attempted to assure councillors that social workers were working closely with police to tackle the problem.

She said: “We have police officers working alongside social workers in the exploitation team. It’s not a case of them being pulled in. We have full-time police resources.”

In December, another Wiltshire police officer was posted to the new child exploitation team.

David Haley, the borough’s director of children’s services, said the group was “looking at a range of child exploitations including criminality and gangs”. 

He added that a room had been devoted to mapping relationships between criminal gangs in the borough.

Mr Haley said: “Once we understand the networks within the borough we can tackle it more effectively.”

Last year, Sergeant Georgina Green of Swindon’s dedicated crime team told the Adver that children as young as 14 were being targeted by London drug gangs.

“A lot of the parents we’ve spoken to have been shocked to be told by the police that their children have been dealing drugs on behalf of these out of town drug networks,” she said. “They had no idea of their children’s involvement.” 

Sgt Green worried that children were increasingly arming themselves with knives, hammers and screwdrivers in a bid to defend themselves, adding: “Some of these children are in possession of knives for their own protection.”

A 16-year-old feared to be involved in county lines-linked drug dealing went missing for several weeks last year – sparking concerns for his safety.

Just weeks before, he had been convicted at youth court of possession of a Taser. Julie Coleman of the council’s Youth Offending Team told the court: “We know there are more drugs out on the streets and we know he’s a part of it.” 

But Coun Foley said last week that it was hard to protect some children caught up in the murky world of drug dealing – as the rewards could be considerable. She told councillors: “They enjoy having the money and the fact of having that better lifestyle.”