Horror of girls as young as 12 sex trafficked

GIRLS as young as 12 are being trafficked for sex in Moldova - the same impoverished country that toxic influencer Andrew Tate is accused of luring a woman from.

- BY TOM PETTIFOR Crime Editor in Moldova

Tate, a self-confessed misogynist with millions of online followers, is charged with raping the Moldovan woman twice after allegedly enticing her to neighbouring Romania.

He denies the charges.

This newspaper travelled to a region of Moldova that has become a hub for sex trafficking to find out how women and children in one of Europe's poorest nations are being exploited.

We accompanied British businessman Chris Lomas, 54, and his Romanian wife Zoe, 44, who moved to Moldova from Havant, Hants, and started charity Hope4 to support vulnerable girls.

Chris and Zoe take us to meet a family living in dire poverty an hour's drive outside of the capital Chisinau.

Mariana, 15, her twin Ion, brother Adrian, eight, and mum Rodica Khircu, 36, live in a house with a dirt floor, a corrugated iron roof and no toilet.

They rely on neighbours to meet some of their most basic needs.

Adrian had not been to school that day because he had to buy bread.

The next family we meet are also struggling to make ends meet.

Labourer Serghie, 43, is paid just £16 a day - when he can find work. He is painfully thin. He sleeps in the same room as his daughter Andrea, 14, and son Costel, 12, who is tiny for his age.

On top of her schoolwork, Andrea, who dreams of becoming a chef, must keep the house clean and cook for her family.

According to Ivan Ivancev, country director of Hope4, youngsters like Mariana and Andrea are most vulnerable to the traffickers.