75: Child criminal exploitation and the importance of early intervention

NSPCC Learning Podcast

Child criminal exploitation (CCE) is a form of child abuse where a child or young person is forced or coerced to engage in criminal activity or commit any type of crime.
In this episode, the NSPCC Helpline’s Service Head, Denise Ellis spoke to Tara Mellowes who is a Detective Constable in the exploitation team with Leicestershire Police.
The discussion covered:

• what CCE is and the different forms it can take
• why children can be targets for CCE
• signs of CCE that professionals working with children should look out for
• why early intervention is so important and what that may look like
• how the police can respond to CCE.

The episode was recorded in January 2025. Since then, the Crime and Policing Bill has been introduced into Parliament, which would introduce a new specific criminal offence of child criminal exploitation. This would target the adult as the primary offender in causing harm to the child by exploiting them to commit criminal activity.
You can read this episode’s transcript on the NSPCC Learning website.
💬 About the speakers

Denise Ellis is the service head for the NSPCC Helpline and has almost 43 years’ experience of working with children and families. She previously worked for Manchester Safeguarding Unit and currently delivers training to professionals on identifying the signs of child criminal exploitation.
DC Tara Mellowes joined Leicestershire Police in 2020 and works in the field of child criminal exploitation helping vulnerable young people caught up in county lines. She is passionate about helping shape how we respond to and tackle child criminal exploitation and is proud to have been part of Leicestershire Police’s first prosecutions against CCE offenders.
📚 Resources mentioned in this episode

> Learn more about Childline
> Find out more about the NSPCC Helpline
> Take our elearning course on county lines
> Learn more about county lines
> Find out more about child criminal exploitation

Intro/outro music is Lights by Sappheiros