officials haven t disclosed details about the object. now on bbc news, it s time for breaking the county lines. it s every parent s nightmare. he was climbing out the windows every night. they had him selling crack and heroin. young people lured into a world of drugs, gangs and violence. he was beaten badly. to see your child s face twice the size of what it should be, no mother should see. there are calls for a change in the law. to make it a specific offence to deal to children under 16. but are they criminals or victims? if children are being exploited and coerced, the law- would not criminalise them in those circumstances. - today we investigate what is being done to break the county lines. it is something you might have read or heard about on the news, county lines is defined as grooming by criminals to force teenagers into drug dealing and other activity. drugs are often transported away from the big cities to smaller towns and rural areas by children and vulnerable peo
through leah s law. what do you want to see? to make it a specific offence to deal to children under 16. it sounds really simple and it sounds like it could already be law but it is not. i don t think the politicians - understand what modern slavery is, i know they had a ten year plan but when you read it, - there is nothing in there i protecting our children that were being exploited. he talked about helping - the drug users and everybody else but he didn t talk- about protecting our children. we are in a crisis. we are living a crisis in the minute we are living a crisis in the minute. - as we are in the middle of that crisis financiallyl so are ourchildren, so are because even though mum and dad are saying they need help - from bills, they see their mum not getting the things that used to get. things are harder at home. so he is not thinking about the bigger picture of what s going on with our children. he has not said one word about drugs that i have listened
this is where 15 year old leah heyes was found on saturday. police were called after reports a young woman had collapsed. two north yorkshire mums who built an unlikely friendship from a terrible tragedy. kerry roberts and tammy kirkwood campaigned side by side to raise awareness of the risk of drugs after tammy s son helped supply the mdma which killed kerry s daughter. carrie wants to see a new law. both want carrie wants to see a new law. both want to carrie wants to see a new law. both want to see carrie wants to see a new law. both want to see better protection for the victims of county line gangs. most of the laws are not with the times, they were made 50, 60, 70 years ago when life is so much different. just set up for us the specific law change you want to see
is just to be very clear, if someone is aggressively coerced into carrying drugs, they will not be considered a criminal in that context. each case is looked at on individual merit. clearly, where children are being exploited and coerced, yeah, the law would not criminalise them in those circumstances. do you support leah s law, being proposed by north yorkshire mum kerry roberts, that would make it a specific offence to deal drugs to under 16s? well, supplying drugs to children, to people under 16, is a particularly heinous and despicable crime, i say that as a father myself. under the 2020 sentencing act, it is already an aggravating factor if the person being supplied drugs is a child, if they are under 16, and that means they will get a longer sentence for the person dealing drugs than if the person receiving drugs was over 16, that is in law already.