“My Mother Sold Me for Sex Aged 12”: Tyne Yates on Her Grooming Ordeal and Blackpool’s Dark Secret

© Tom Blewitt – Predator Awareness

Tyne Yates was just 12 years old when her life spiralled out of control—sold for sex by her own mother in a back alley near Blackpool’s Golden Mile. The man paid £250. Her mother, a heroin addict and street prostitute, watched. Afterward, she handed Tyne a ten-pound note—her “cut.”

“I still had my school uniform on and my bag. She told me everything would be ok, and it was all just part of life. I believed her.”

Haunted by the Past, Living with the Scars

Tyne now lives in a bedsit in Blackpool, haunted by the memory of that moment and the years that followed. Her story is one of survival, trauma, and a brutal awakening to the realities of child exploitation in plain sight.

“I went from being a kid looking for excitement to being passed around groups of men for sex. As I got older, turned my back on my family, I got hooked on drugs and arrested countless times. I ended up a street prostitute, just like my mum.”

The Streets Where Innocence Was Lost

Abingdon street, Blackpool Town Centre.

Tyne’s descent began with skipping school and hanging around the town centre—just like Charlene Downes and many other vulnerable girls in Blackpool.

“It all started with bunking off school and hanging around in the town centre, just like Charlene Downes and a lot of other young girls.”

A Friendship Cut Short by Tragedy

Charlene Downes went missing on the 1st November 2003 aged just 14

Charlene Downes, a friend and fellow teenager, disappeared in November 2003 at age 14. Her case remains one of the most disturbing unsolved crimes in UK history. Two men stood trial for her murder in 2007, but were not convicted. The prosecution alleged that her body had been dismembered and disposed of in takeaway food.

“It Could Have Been Me”

Tyne says she is tormented by the knowledge that she probably knows Charlene’s killers

Tyne reflects on the chilling proximity of their lives.

“It torments me knowing that I probably know her killers. We were doing the same things with the same people at the same time.”

“When I look into the eyes of some of the men that prowl the streets preying on vulnerable young girls, I can’t help but wonder if one of them was the last face that she ever saw. Something horrible happened to her and it could easily have been me.”

A Mother’s Influence, A Daughter’s Pain

The alley way on Abingdon Street, Blackpool. This is situated behind takeaways where grooming gangs operated.

Tyne’s mother, Lisa, died in 2007 at just 38. Tyne still struggles with the emotional fallout.

“My mum was different to most of the other mums. She was a heroin addict and a working girl. She really struggled with life but she was exciting to be around. It felt dangerous. I looked up to her. She was my mum and I loved her.”

“Then one day a man approached us in the street and asked her for sex. He said he wanted me and not her and that he’d pay a lot extra. I remember being led down the alley way by mum.”

“Speaking from her one bedroomed tiny bedsit in Blackpool, Tyne wipes away the tears as she recounts the moment that changed her life forever.”

“Afterwards, she gave me my cut. A ten-pound note. I felt rich. It all seems so sad and pathetic. But that’s what happened to me.”

Lessons Passed Between Friends

Tyne Yates (Left) and Charlene Downes (Right)

Not long after, Tyne met Charlene.

“Charlene was fun, she was my friend. She was a year or so older than me, but not very streetwise. I started to pass on to her all the tricks that my mum had shown me.”

“She had a very different background to mine, but we had so much in common.”

“We had a regular route through the town that we would take, calling in at certain takeaway shops and arcades.”

“She liked to dance for the drunks outside pubs. The Carousel Bar on the North Pier was a favourite place to steal drinks from the tables.”

Twenty-Two Years of Silence

When Charlene went missing, Tyne didn’t panic at first.

“When I heard that she had gone missing, I wasn’t too concerned at first. She was wild and anything was possible. I honestly thought she would turn up sooner or later but the days turned into weeks then months and, here we are: years on and there’s still no sign of her.”

“I have had police swoop on me thinking I was Charlene a few times. We are the same height and build and look similar, I suppose. It’s hard to take in that she has gone.”

“Sometimes I still get scared when I think about what happened to Charlene.”

“I hope one day the mystery will be solved, Karen and her family can have some justice and my beautiful friend, Charlene will be at peace.”

The Golden Miles Shame, A Survivors Truth

Tyne Yates was not alone. She was one of many young girls in Blackpool failed by the very authorities meant to protect them. Her exploitation, like Charlene Downes’, was preventable. The signs were there: vulnerable children slipping through the cracks, groomed in plain sight, traded for pocket money and fast food and gifts. Yet the system looked away. Charlene’s dissappearance, is not just a tragedy—it’s an indictment. And the Golden Mile, glittering by day, harbours dark secrets by night. Behind the arcades, and pleasure beach, behind the laughter and neon lights, lies a history of abuse, silence, and institutional neglect. Tyne’s story demands more than sympathy—it demands accountability. Because every girl lost to those streets deserved better.

Want your story heard?

If you’ve experienced grooming, abuse, or exploitation and want your story to be heard, we’re here to listen. Whether you’re seeking justice, raising awareness, or reclaiming your voice, your truth matters. To discuss sharing your experience in a respectful and secure way, please contact us directly. Every story has the power to protect others—and yours could be the one that makes a difference.

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