IT no doubt suits the prejudice of Scottish Defence League (SDL) followers to use recent events in Rochdale and Rotherham to seek to spread their racist bigotry through public demonstrations ("Police in large-scale disorder warning over far-right march", The Herald, November 17).

What needs to be confronted is a simple association between child sex exploitation and any particular ethnic group.

In the mid 1980s, in the area of Leeds where I was then working as a social worker, 11 men were given prison sentences for their part in what was called at that time child sex rings. They were convicted after painstaking work over many months by a special team of police officers and social workers interviewing the schoolgirls drawn in by the men. The rings contained 14 adult men and 175 children aged 6-15. Issues of race did not arise - all of the men were white and with British origins.

A British Medical Journal (BMJ)article, co-authored by one of the paediatricians directly involved with the professional team, reported that "secrecy was encouraged and bribery, threats, and peer pressure used to induce participation in sexual activities. Eleven perpetrators were successfully prosecuted; all but one received a sentence of three years or less."' The BMJ research went on to say "child sex rings are difficult to detect and may be common".

Investigations were subsequently started in other areas of Yorkshire and the specialist police/social work team came to believe that serious abuse was taking place in a similar way across the country. The work of the specialist team was very complex, time-consuming and labour-intensive and its resource demands were said to be the reason that the team was eventually disbanded.

This very serious social problem is not specific to any ethnic group - fundamentally, it is about men preying on, using and abusing children and young people. The problem is currently under the media and political spotlight, but it has been around for a very long time - and is no less serious for being a long-standing problem. The problem needs to be tackled and its investigation and response adequately resourced. Street demonstrations by racist groups are no part of the solution.

Andrew Reid,

Armadale, Shore Road, Cove, Argyll.