A SEX-grooming victim has been attacked and subjected to death threats, just weeks after her mother begged social services to re-locate her.

The girl's mother, who herself had to move house to escape intimidation, said her 15-year-old daughter has been viciously beaten three times and was receiving sinister threats from men desperate for sex.

In August, mother-of-three Julie (not her real name), said her child would be murdered or become addicted to drugs if she was not moved away from Blackburn and the gang of men who had ruined her life.

She is among dozens of girls who have been groomed for sex by gangs of men, predominantly Asian, who lure them into a sordid world by showering them with gifts and driving them around in flash cars.

One 14-year-old girl, Marie (not her real name) has turned her life around after being moved to a foster home in North Wales.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council social services defended its decision not to move Lindsey (not her real name), saying children who were moved away from their own community tended to do less well than those who stayed.

Now Julie said the situation was spiralling out of control and she was left waiting for the call that her daughter, a Blakewater College pupil, had been raped or murdered.

She said specialist police had persuaded Lindsey to give evidence against those who were threatening her life.

But she added: "There is going to be a death in East Lancashire because of this at some point and I am worried that it is going to be Lindsey.

"She has been assaulted seriously three times now where she has been kicked and punched around the body and her face has been scratched.

"She is receiving death threats too from these men who tell her if she does not perform sex acts on them that she will be stabbed.

"She is at the top of the police's vulnerability list and all those people who are close to her now are also classed at high risk."

The support group that Julie set up for other parents of sexually exploited children has also had to move locations after these gangs began intimidating them at their weekly meetings and in August the car she was driving was almost run off the road in Audley by a car full of Asian men who had followed her home.

An investigation by the Lancashire Telegraph in July revealed that up to 100 girls aged between 12 and 16 in East Lancashire had been groomed into childhood prostitution by gangs of men.

Our Keep Them Safe campaign, aimed at helping them, is backed by MAPS, the police, social services, children's charities, community leaders and the parents of victims.

One of its aims is to set up an overnight refuge for child victims of sexual exploitation from East Lancashire.

Lindsey, who was lured into sexually exploitation when she was just 14, is in local authority care after repeatedly going missing from home to spend time with the men.

Julie added: "Putting her in care in Blackburn has not stopped this happening. The only thing that will save her is to move her to somewhere they can't get to her and she can't get to them."Why do things have to get so bad before action is taken?

"We have totally lost Lindsey now to these people. She is blank - our daughter has simply gone.

"My mum asked her why she let these men treat her as a punch bag and she just said that she wasn't bothered.

"These men are sick, dirty paedophiles."

Det Chief Insp Simon Giles said: "We have been made aware of these incidents and threats made to the 15-year-old-girl and inquiries are ongoing.

"We continue to support the child and her family and are working closely with children's services."