Mother feels guilt at the invasion of family home

IT REALLY could be every parent's worst nightmare.

Aside from the loss of a child, there can be few more traumatic experiences than learning your young daughter was groomed and sexually abused by a man she effectively met while under your own roof.

Speaking to the West Briton, the mother of the 15-year-old victim of Jahangir Karim said: "I feel like I failed her.

"You are supposed to protect your children from anything and anyone.

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"He has invaded our home and I feel guilty. It was all down to these (social networking) websites and I did not know enough about it.

"I'm still scared to talk to her about it properly. I'm scared of what I might find out.

"I think about when she was in that situation was she thinking, 'Mum, please help me'? We're close, always have been – she's one of my babies, no matter how old.

"There's not enough there to protect kids and not enough to know if a person is being honest (Karim, 39, claimed to be 18).

"You can get on there and be anyone – it's an open playground for people like him, who should be locked away for a very long time. It was very planned, very manipulative, very calculated.

"He knew exactly what he was doing and how old she was.

"He should serve the full sentence. This is going to be with her for the rest of her life – he'll be out and quite free in a couple of years."

The mother of three, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also told of the devastating effect the sordid episode has had on her daughter, shattering her confidence and trust in people.

"She doesn't go out the door now apart from school. I think there was a trust issue and now she's scared. She spends a lot of time in her bedroom and has reverted back to a small child.

"The only friend she talks to is her best friend and probably does not trust anyone. She blames herself."

She no longer allows the girl and a younger sibling access to the internet, via computer or mobile phone, and the effect on her has been life-changing as well.

"If they go out I'm phoning all the time, even when only a few doors away.

"I'm paranoid now. I don't trust people. If I had my way, they'd be inside 24/7, but that can't happen.

"It's hard to let go as a parent anyway, but now it's much worse."

She wants to see more safeguards against children accessing social networking websites and potentially coming into contact with abusers on the internet, such as signed contracts or proof of age.

But she praised the police, saying lead investigator Detective Constable Nick Parr was "fantastic".