COUNCILLOR Frank White, chairman of the Bolton Prostitution Forum, said the social services staff and police officer who worked with Carly were devastated by her murder.

He said: "The tragedy is that people knew about Carly and tried to help her but she would not listen.

"There is a lot of soul searching being done to see if there are any lessons to be learned and if there was anything that could have been done to prevent this happening again.

"We know there are girls under the age of 16 from various backgrounds who sell themselves for sex but they don't regard it as prostitution, they think these men are their friends.

"We have an agreement with the police that these girls are not prostitutes, they are victims of sexual abuse but we cannot get the evidence to charge anyone with offences.

"It is an impossible situation and we can only act as a concerned parents and introduce them to our services and show them there is another lifestyle to follow.

"The system needs to be changed and we need some sort of sanction to protect them from themselves but the child has rights like anyone else.

"But you can't make them listen and when your back is turned, they can still run out the door.

"If there are any young people who want out of that kind of life, they can come to us and we will help them."