A TOP soap star helped raise awareness of the serious issue of child sexual exploitation at a city centre roadshow today.

Roxy Shahidi, who plays Leyla Harding in Emmerdale, joined representatives from West Yorkshire Police, Bradford Council and local charities for the event in City Park.

Organisers say similar events have helped get more people talking about the sensitive issue of grooming, and similar awareness roadshows in recent years have led to a rise in the number of people reporting CSE cases.

Recent figures predict that by April the number of referrals made to the Bradford CSE hub will have increase by a quarter compared to the year before. However, experts say this is down to increased public awareness of the signs of CSE, backed up by the fact that the number of monthly referrals doubled following Safeguarding Week in October.

Today's roadshow followed a similar event in the Airedale Shopping Centre in Keighley on Friday, and ties in with CSE Awareness Day. Organisers say they hope to see an increase in CSE referrals after the roadshows.

Over the day the different groups spoke to young people, school groups and adults about how to spot the signs that a child is being groomed, and what young people can do if they find themselves in such a situation.

Mrs Shahidi said: "There are thousands and thousands of kids affected by it every single year, but it is not something people take about openly, either because they've been through it and it's too hard to talk about, or because they have never experienced it and and it makes people uncomfortable to talk about.

"But the fact is, it's happening, and it's happening all the time. I think the more we talk about it the more we can support young people going through this, as well as increasing awareness with young people so they don't end up in the same situations themselves.

"I think CSE can be a grey area to a lot of people, so clearer we can make it for young people the better."

She said she was looking at putting on drama workshops that would help highlight the issue for young people.

Jill Hudson, manager of Bradford's CSE Hub said: "We're trying to promote CSE awareness among members of the public with these events.

"After safeguarding week last year we had the highest number of referrals in 12 months, and we expect the number of referrals to rise after this event too."

Richard Mcnamara from West Yorkshire Police, said: "It is important that people share whatever information they have if they have any concerns.

"Our role is also prevention, so we don't want people to sit on any information, no matter how small. It could be that it is part of the bigger jigsaw."

Children's Charity the NSPCC has said: "The NSPCC’s Childline service saw a 13 per cent increase in counselling sessions about Child Sexual Exploitation last year, and we expect it to increase again this year. Our counsellors have heard concerns about grooming, trafficking and sexual harassment of children and young people by sexual predators.

“Increasingly young people are being groomed by abusers on the internet, so parents and carers need to be vigilant about the relationships their child is forming on and offline. 

"This includes talking to them about online safety, installing parental controls and agreeing the amount of time they spend online.  The NSPCC offers advice to parents on having these conversations with their children.”