Hilary's drive to protect young people

It's about the work, not her, and if you try to move the spotlight sideways for a moment to illuminate her as a person, she simply steps

in the other direction. In a quiet, polite but firm way.

Well, she may be touchingly disinclined to acknowledge it, but ask anyone who knows Hilary Willmer and they will tell you that she is remarkable and her work has made a huge difference to countless people.

She'll cringe when she reads this, but few have done so much to help those in their community who are enduring rough, difficult, dark times. Few speak with such passion about their work while simultaneously batting away all suggestion that any success is, in great part, down to their special drive and personality.

But she can be bold. Stepping into a pool of light for a moment recently to accept a Woman of Achievement award, Mrs Willmer didn't simply say a brief and gracious thank you; instead she took advantage of a prize opportunity to bring the room to a stunned silence with a choice and passionate few words about CROP – the Leeds-based Coalition for The Removal of Pimping. She has been chair of the charity for 14 years.

As she said, it's not normal conversational fare at a jolly fundraising lunch, but frankly, when's a good time? She has it on pretty good authority that the sexual exploitation of young girls (it is usually girls) is there right in front of us, in every town and city and even a goodly number of villages, too.

The vicious web that's spun around the victims ensnares them in a world of drink, drugs, rape, secrecy and threats; and many exploited girls may be pimped for months or years before their family finally realise what's happening – beyond outward symptoms of what could simply be "off-the-rails" behaviour and teenage rebellion.

For years, or even a lifetime, after the exploitation has come to light, the girl and her whole family have to deal with the emotional

and psychological fall-out, which can include marital breakdown and mental health problems.

Few of us recognise the signs of young men seeking and grooming girls, but much of this side of the crimes happens in very public places – typically busy shopping malls and parks – and after a decade and a half of listening to the heartrending stories of hundreds of families torn apart following the sexual exploitation of a girl in their midst, Hilary is convinced that even CROP has only touched the very tip of an enormous iceberg.

In the mid-1990s Willmer, a teacher, wife and mother who had moved from teaching into the voluntary sector, got to know Irene Ivison. Irene's daughter Fiona had been groomed by a man in Sheffield who then put her on the street selling sex when she was 17. Within three weeks Fiona was dead at the hands of a man buying sex. Irene's response was to campaign for legal action against sexual exploiters and to support their victims and families of victims.

By 2000 when Irene Ivison died, CROP was a small but well-run charity, based on York Road in Leeds. Since its inception Hilary has been its very active chair of trustees, and despite her personal modesty she talks to many different groups and conferences.

As the only organisation working with parents of victims, its expertise is sought from across the country. It helps families but also campaigns to improve the law and law enforcement around sexual exploitation.

"Irene said that when her daughter died two men were responsible: the one who killed and the one who pimped her. When Irene decided to go public about what had happened to Fiona, she was contacted by many

other parents who had thought they were alone with this problem."

After Irene's death, Hilary continued, securing Home Office funding and other sources.

The stories brought to CROP by heartbroken parents are individual, but certain generalisations can be made. "What parents tend to notice at first is that their child is acting differently – she becomes secretive, aggressive, rebellious, staying out late or disappearing overnight.

"At the beginning we worked on the assumption that girls were groomed by individual pimps, but later discovered widespread pimping networks, much like international people trafficking gangs. Shopping malls, games arcades, places around takeaways and parks are common meeting places.

"The girl (who's typically aged between 13 and 16, but can be only 11 or 12) may meet the man alone, or be introduced by a friend who already knows him. He is usually quite a lot older and good looking, well-dressed and may well have a fast car. He'll meet her regularly, shower her with gifts, give her drink and maybe also drugs, take her for rides, tell her how special she is. He may have sex with her, but not at first, and he will discourage her from telling her parents about him because "they wouldn't understand".

"At some point further down the line he will take her to a flat or down an alley and tell her that in return for all the things he has done for her, it's payback time and she has to do something for him. She will then probably be gang raped. She will be confused, weak, think she's in love with the pimp, but also feel ashamed and guilty. She goes home and takes it out on her family and also drops out of education."

The story of an individual girl's ordeal comes to light either after she has some sort of breakdown or her parents find enough clues to piece some of the story together, confront their child and go to the police. Girls' reluctance to turn to their families earlier on in this desperate chain of events is commonly attributed to fear – threats of serious harm to parents, siblings and home (as well as drug or alcohol dependence) are used to keep the girl in line.

Reading the terrible accounts given to CROP by parents and daughters, it's clear that the men involved brainwash girls who are still

physically, psychologically and legally children into believing they have no choice but to go on being regularly and systematically raped by men who pay her "boyfriend".

After the truth comes to light, difficulty in providing evidence is why so few men have been convicted of rape or sexual exploitation. Usually a man will either flatly deny sex happened, or say "she agreed to it, and told me she was 17".

CROP hosts twice-yearly networking days, where parents can meet and share their experiences. A common tale is that social workers and other agencies assume that these crimes only happen with children from dysfunctional families. "Not true," says Hilary. "I've seen it happen in every kind of family you can think of."

Securing a prosecution is a near-impossible task, it seems, and some police forces spend little effort on time-consuming specialist sexual exploitation investigations. But successes for CROP include the tightening of legislation to make grooming an offence carrying a sentence of up to 14 years.

Hilary and her tight team fight on. "People in this country are sympathetic about the plight of people trafficked internationally, but they assume British girls must do it willingly. A vast number of women in the sex trade began by being forced by pimps when they were children."

At 68, is there any sign of Hilary Willmer spending a little less time on the iniquities of the world and a little more on her own private pleasures? "Not really. I'm healthy and fit, and while I still have that gift I go on as usual. I like to feel useful."

n CROP advice line 0113 240 3040. www.crop1.org.uk

A world of poverty and injustice

Just some of Hilary Willmer's many roles:

Born in Hampshire, Hilary Willmer read History at Cambridge then became a high school teacher.

After marrying the academic Haddon Willmer she moved to Leeds

Polytechnic, and later took a career break to bring up their children. She volunteered at Chapeltown Citizens Advice Bureau – her first exposure to the world outside what she calls "comfortable Britain", and one she found to be full of poverty and injustice.

After meeting people who had housing but no money for furniture, she organised friends who were getting rid of good used furniture to give it to those who needed it, with transport also provided for free. Using church contacts she set up a team of volunteers and Leeds and Moortown Furniture Store was formed.

Hilary also discovered, through CAB work, a gap in provision for young homeless people, who often had to wait at least a day or two for housing to be found. At first she took some of them into her own home for a night or two, and then persuaded churches and other organisations to follow suit. This was the invention of Nightstop, which now operates 30 schemes all over the country.

Hilary contributed the 1985 Faith in Leeds report and later became a joint director of Barnardo's Churches and Neighbourhood Action. In

1996, she became director of Leeds Church Institute, developing activities through liaison between churches and the life of the city.

She has played a leading part in LASSN – Leeds Asylum Seekers Network. Apart from all of this, she enjoys the company of her eight

grandchildren, gardening, reading and holidays spent travelling by camper van.