The primary victims of child sexual exploitation are, of course, the young people themselves. We can never forget Professor Alexis Jay’s report which found that 1400 girls had been abused by gangs of men between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham. It remains a priority to help the victims and survivors and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.

But one thing I have become aware of over these past three years as Police and Crime Commissioner is that there are secondary victims of CSE as well. Their suffering is not of the same order, but they too have had their lives profoundly affected.

The first have been parents. The first survivor of CSE I met came with her father. I subsequently met both her parents and they told me their story.

Their daughter had never been in care and she was from a loving home. But long before she understood that she was being exploited, they had tried many times to get the authorities to take action. They had met with rebuffs. They had gone out of their minds with anxiety about their daughter yet could not get the police or social services to act. As parents, the one thing we believe we must and can do is protect our children. They felt helpless.

For years, these parents – and others – found themselves in a very lonely place. Their daughter continued to go off with the offenders, but the authorities wouldn’t listen.

There can be other victims within the family. I have come across younger sisters who feared that what was happening to their older sibling might happen to them. Others who were threatened with violence if their older sister didn’t comply with what the gang wanted.

More recently, and at a greater distance, are those social workers and police officers who have worked to safeguard the young people or bring offenders to justice. They hear terrible stories of abuse – physical, sexual, emotional – as part of their daily work. They have to go into difficult and sensitive matters. However ‘professional’ they are, it is often impossible not to be affected. When they go home it is not surprising that some take harrowing accounts and fears for their own children with them.

The victims of CSE are not just the primary victim – the exploited young person. There are many others.