A decade on from when authorities identified the emergence of “county lines” drug dealing, children exploited by the trade are now often either dead, in prison or have been sectioned with mental health problems caused by the trauma.
Sky News has spoken to parents and former child runners who say the long-term impact is devastating, as new figures show the problem shows no sign of abating.
In the last 12 months, police referred 3,200 vulnerable people, mostly children, to support services – in the latest crackdown on child exploitation within country lines gangs. Some 1,200 gang members were arrested in the same period.
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“Lucy” was a drug runner featured in a Sky News film in 2018 on the exploitation of children used as drug runners.
Aged 13, she was set up to be robbed by her own gang during a trip from London to Southampton, then stabbed as punishment, and debt-bonded so she would run drugs for free. At the same age she was also made pregnant by one of the gang members.
Now in her early 20s she says the experience traumatised her, and she was sectioned with severe mental health problems.
She says: “My paranoia just overtook me. I was so paranoid all the time, like having to lock the doors, checking the windows, checking behind me walking in the street, not being able to breathe really, just constantly on edge.
“I was afraid of them finding me, or getting attacked again, or them making me work and feeling like a slave.”
Lucy currently lives in a refuge, in hiding from a violent man.
‘That’s the cruelty of it all’
Amanda Stephens’ son, Olly, had a similar experience to Lucy when he was 13. Olly was set up and robbed by his own gang on a trip to London from Reading.
Amanda says: “It wasn’t until he spoke quite honestly with the social worker, he said, Olly, you were set up. Olly thought they were his friends and that’s the cruelty of it all.”
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Olly was autistic and vulnerable to influence. Amanda noticed his group of friends changed when he moved to secondary school and his locator on his phone sometimes placed him further away from home than he should be, but he refused to say what was going on.
“We lost control completely of him as our child.”
Olly did warn his father that some children wanted to stab him – and tragically, despite his parents’ efforts to keep him safe, in January 2021, Olly was lured to a field by a 14-year-old girl, where he was stabbed to death by two boys aged 13 and 14.
Vulnerable people ‘exploited’
It was August 2015 when a report by the National Crime Agency said the Home Office had “identified a growing body of intelligence… that vulnerable young people are being exploited in order to facilitate the running of street level dealing”.
It added: “‘County Lines’ is a national issue involving the use of mobile phone ‘lines’ by groups to extend their drug dealing business into new locations outside of their home areas.”
This led to a wave of knife crime among young people, and a new law recognising the exploitation of children under the Modern Slavery Act in 2015.
Mother says her son was ‘radicalised’
One parent, “Laura”, told Sky News she felt like her son had been “radicalised” into drug dealing and acted like he was “on remote control”, once jumping out of her car on the school run after one gang member sent him a text.
Like Lucy, Laura’s son ended up being sectioned in his late teens and needing ongoing mental health support.
Every gift came at a price
Sarah, who doesn’t want us to use her surname, says her son’s involvement in county lines began when he was offered a McDonald’s aged 12, in return for running an errand.
She says every gift came at a price: “So, they would give him the trainers, give him a bike, the coat, and everything they gave him were actually in their benefit, because if he was warm, he wasn’t coming home. If he could get around faster, he could drop more. They would act like it was a gift, but, actually, you had to pay it off in bits.”
Sarah says, 10 years on, the long-term impact has been devastating.
“Currently, he’s serving a custodial sentence for possession with intent to sell. Mentally I think he’s traumatised. Physically, he has scars from knife injuries, fractures. A face that I will never recognise, because people have broken that a couple of times.”
‘The consequences are death, prison, or the loss of your sanity’
A Sky News report in 2018 called Behind County Lines, which included Lucy’s story, was part of the inspiration for a play called CODE by Justice In Motion, which tours schools and town centres.
Both Amanda and Sarah believe every child and parent should watch the production, which tells a story similar to Lucy’s of a child groomed into joining a county lines gang.
Lead actor and rapper Still Shadey, who grew up in south London, had friends exploited by county lines gangs. He says: “The outcomes are clear. The consequences are death, prison, or the loss of your sanity.”
The problem has had less publicity recently but continues to be a major focus for police with 2,300 “deal lines” closed by operations in the 12 months since July 2024, the highest annual figures since the government’s County Lines Programme began in 2019.
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‘Disgusting and cowardly’
Crime and policing minister Sarah Jones said: “The exploitation of children and vulnerable people in this way is disgusting and cowardly. County lines gangs are also driving knife crime in our communities, and I want criminals to know that we will not let them get away with it. We will be relentless in going after these gangs.”
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The government has already announced new offences as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, including “criminal exploitation of children”, which seek to increase convictions against exploiters and deter gangs from enlisting children. It will carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
