A senior council worker repeatedly raised concerns over a decade that children as young as 11 were being sexually abused in and around High Street mini-marts in the West Midlands, according to internal Dudley Council documents seen by the BBC. The reports, drawn from Trading Standards intelligence briefings between 2016 and 2025, were shared multiple times with police and safeguarding partners but did not result in any public warnings.
The briefings collated complaints from community members and information from agencies such as Citizens Advice, Companies House and other regional databases. They flagged repeated fears that children were being groomed and potentially sexually abused after being offered free cigarettes, alcohol, vapes and drugs in shops linked to organised crime groups. One June 2024 report described an attempt to lure a child to a flat after being given free cigarettes, while earlier concerns highlighted a shop said to be targeting young women.
West Midlands Police initially told the BBC there was “no evidence” to substantiate allegations of child sexual exploitation connected to shops in Dudley. After the broadcaster presented further material, the force issued an updated statement dropping the “no evidence” claim, saying instead it has a “robust partnership approach” to safeguarding and would always act on any information received. Child abuse lawyer David Greenwood said it was “hard to see” how the police could categorically deny the existence of evidence, given the seriousness of the allegations.
Logs kept by Trading Standards show that in 2019 the force itself suggested high street shops in the town of Lye might be involved in child sexual exploitation and asked for help from Trading Standards. Lye was later described within the safeguarding group as a “hot spot” where several children were believed to be exploited. Between 2019 and 2024, regular intelligence reports on “pop-up shops” were circulated, including one December 2024 briefing stating 11-year-olds were taken from a shop in Brierley Hill by vehicle to an unknown location to collect cigarettes and vapes; that shop was subsequently closed.
The logs also record that in September 2025 Trading Standards asked West Midlands Police to seek foreign conviction checks on suspects, including whether they had prior child sex offences. In January this year, 41 names were reportedly handed to police, among them a man being investigated for rape, but internal notes suggest the checks had still not been requested.
Dudley Trading Standards intelligence briefings seen by the BBC identify 11 shops and workers across the borough where there were concerns about child sexual exploitation. One 2024 report alleges staff at a Stourbridge mini-mart were “selling drugs and giving away these illegal goods to children in return for sexual favours”, a warning highlighted in an internal graphic circulated to officials. Another 2019 report cites a worker accused of giving schoolgirls free cigarettes for a kiss and of sexually assaulting a police community support officer in Wales.
A separate law-enforcement source told the BBC they received information in 2025 that children aged 13 to 15 were given vapes by shop workers in return for sex, based on reports from parents and nearby traders. During raids, some premises allegedly contained pull‑out beds and bags with women’s make‑up, which officers viewed as further cause for concern.
Dudley Trading Standards officer Kuldeep Maan said parents and teachers had long warned that children on the high street were being offered free cigarettes and alcohol in exchange for sexual favours. While carrying out raids, he and colleagues said they found used condoms in flats above shops and noted that some outlets were selling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. In an undercover BBC test, a female researcher was offered a canister of laughing gas for £30 and was asked to go to a shopworker’s home to collect it; she refused.
A male undercover researcher visiting another mini-mart, where vapes were reportedly being sold to children, said he was offered illegal cigarettes by a man who has been charged with rape. A woman who previously worked in a West Midlands mini-mart told the BBC she was sexually assaulted by a shop worker shortly after the Covid pandemic, describing how he tried to drag her into a toilet and how other shop staff repeatedly harassed and propositioned her for paid sex. She said she later heard of a 13‑year‑old girl who was allegedly grabbed, kissed and assaulted in a shop before managing to escape.
The woman also reported hearing of young girls being given free alcohol, drugs and food and being made to have sex with men in hotels or flats above shops. She said some shop workers believed they could “get away with it” because they had done so with others.
Wayne Little, cabinet member for children’s services at Dudley Council, said the authority takes all reports of child sexual exploitation seriously and works closely with partner agencies through the Dudley Safeguarding People Partnership. He stressed that concerns are shared and assessed within the multi‑agency framework designed to protect vulnerable children.