POLICE admit they are "worried" that they know of only one Asian girl, among a total of 54 children, currently regarded as being at high risk from sexual exploitation in Bradford.

It is believed that grooming victims from the Pakistani community may be reluctant to complain for fear of the shame they associate with their ordeal.

Last night the Professional Muslims Institute brought together a panel of local and national experts on the issue for a meeting to discuss that community's response to the problem.

They included Supt Vince Firth, who told the meeting: "Most victims are girls. We have three boys we are concerned about. We have one Asian girl and that worries me."

"One Asian girl on our radar cannot be right. There must be something we can do to support these people and make them come forwards."

Supt Firth said there were currently more than 60 men on bail as a result of 48 active investigations into grooming, including 18 into 'street grooming'.

The meeting heard from Shaista Gohir, of the Muslim Women's Network UK, who has been studying the issue of exploitation and found that two thirds of victims nationally were Pakistani, with most having background issues such as strict upbringings, being exposed to domestic violence or sexual abuse within the family.

"Exploitation was highly organised, Asian girls are not easy to get hold of," she said.

"There were some online cases, but most were groups and gang related.

"Shame and honour is the main reason Asian girls don't come forwards.

"They are being abused but are not coming forwards. They think if they report it their families will find out, they will be sent to Pakistan, they won't be believed and will be blamed," she said.

Supt Firth said the way police and other agencies handled child sexual abuse cases had improved in the last few years and accepted that previously police had not recognised some victims as such, because they did not regard themselves as being exploited.

That has led to a change of tactics, where police now work to compile cases against offenders which do not rely on the victim to succeed in court.

He also said more needed to be be done to support the families of victims but also the families of offenders, who could find themselves "ostracised" by their own community through no fault of their own.

"When we arrest someone, their family sometimes gets ostracised," he said.

"People blame the wife of the perpetrator and blame the victim. Something needs to be done to support those people and particularly women.

"We need to think about how we can challenge that ethos. There are things going terribly wrong in society."

He said it was important that society should be willing to report suspicions, even if they turned out to be innocent.

"We want a culture where people are picking up the phone to police and say they have seen something that doesn't look right.

"It may be a father with his daughter and we will have those calls all day long. I would rather have 100 calls, just to find one where there is something going on," he said.

Crown Prosecution Service spokesman Nazir Afzal told the audience: "I am colour blind and ethnicity blind when it comes to prosecution.

"The abuser is, too. They only look for the fact they (victims) are vulnerable and can be manipulated. They deliberately target those who may be involved in low level criminality on the basis the courts won't believe them," he said.

Among the tactics to be deployed by the CPS against groomers in future will be to take action to have their assets seized by the courts, in addition to the sentences for their sex crimes.

"These abusers think that by targeting the unwanted and the unloved they will get away with it," he said.

"You cannot allow this to happen on your watch, in your towns, cities, neighbourhoods," he said.

Asian men were "disproportionately" involved in the street grooming cases which have been the subject of media attention and research is still being conducted into that issue.

Mr Afzal said: "One of the reasons is that Asian and Pakistani men are disproportionately engaged in the night time economy." That meant they were working in environments which could put them into contact with potential victims.

Paul Hill, from Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, said the council was working with voluntary sector groups to provide more outreach workers who could hopefully develop trusting relationships with those vulnerable to grooming, in an environment away from education.

The meeting, called Child Exploitation - The Muslim Community's Response, was described as a 'landmark' event by bringing together so many experts and the community.

The Professional Muslims Institute organisers will now compile a report on the issues raised.