Ellie was groomed from the age of 12 and was subsequently a victim of human traf-ficking and child sexual exploitation for seven years. She describes being trafficked as a ‘life sentence’. Now a young woman of 23, she experiences regular flashbacks to the trauma she suffered and lives with ongoing medical complications.
In Ellie’s own words: ‘There were so many times as a young girl I would walk into a pharmacy, or the doctors, and could very easily get contraception without being questioned as to why, at the age of 12 and throughout my teens, I would even be in the position to need it.
‘It was the same for so many of the other girls too. You could get it for someone else and they wouldn’t have a clue or they just didn’t care.
