Muhammed Coelho, author and founder of Isobel, said the number of women and girls in the UK who come under the radar was increasing.
He said that if people “get a little lazy about looking for these stories, then they may miss [one]. It’s a difficult job, because there is a lot [of hidden people]. We just have to be more careful and diligent.”
Isobel, which is in operation for more than 40 years, was set up by the parents of young women in an attempt to find out if their daughters had been abducted, murdered or otherwise forcibly sex-trafficked by men who would later claim to be acting within the interests of “freedom”.
Their work has been praised for its “deep, moralistic” approach, and is featured in the recent James Bond film “Goldeneye”.
Coelho’s first book, “Scent of Lotus” about the abduction of a 14 year old girl and the attempts made on her life by her traffickers, went to number one in the New Year and this year was on the bestseller lists.
He admitted that his work has received “a lot of criticism” because of its focus on missing children.
“The main criticism we have heard has been – ‘It says nothing about men. It’s only a girl. Women and girls will never be kidnapped by men.’ The truth is that boys are also at risk.
“We have a very complicated understanding of these things. We want to look at what we’ve learned from past cases, from women such as our own sister, who was kidnapped,” he explained.
He added: “I’m not one to give an inch in terms of talking about this stuff without being very careful. I don’t think people are looking at it from a purely public safety perspective, so we have to be very careful. The more people understand about what they’re doing, the better.
“I say it with complete sincerity now, we’re not trying to make these girls’ lives easier. We’re trying to get things like this off our streets so that people are more fearful.”
One of those girls Coelho mentioned was 11-year-old Doreen, who vanished off the side of a railway line in Southall, in London, in March 2014, after being taken on holiday to a resort in France.
It was almost