Police defend botched raid to free 'child slaves'

A police force has come under fire after it emerged that a group of children taken into care because of fears they were being smuggled to Britain from eastern Europe and forced into a life of crime were in fact living with their families.

Last week officers raided 17 homes in Slough, Berks, and took away 10 children they claimed were victims of human trafficking and forced by crime gangs to beg and steal on London's streets.

However, police soon found out that the children were not in danger, and have already reunited all but one with their families.

The houses raided belonged to Romanian gipsies and officers insisted yesterday that they were acting on strong intelligence.

They were investigating a string of offences in Westminster in which tourists, business people and commuters have allegedly been targeted by pick-pocketing gangs, mostly from Romania.

However, the families involved have accused officers of being heavy-handed and not listening to them.

One man, who asked not to be named, said two of his grandchildren were taken after the police targeted his three-bedroom terrace house, which is home to 15 people.

He said: "They entered the house wearing balaclavas. They immobilised us and didn't even let us get dressed. From 5am to 11am they didn't let us make a move.

"They turned our house upside down and searched everywhere. They didn't find anything and in the end after they'd finished everything they took the children."

He claimed they were targeted because in the gipsy community parents are often not married, children do not always share the same name and are often looked after by extended family.

Scotland Yard said last night that the parents of five of the 10 children had either travelled or were in the process of travelling from abroad to be reunited with them.

Another child has been reunited with parents from elsewhere in the UK, two have been placed with relatives, one was released as it transpired he was 17 and the final child has been released into the care of his father.

Of the 10 children, police believe four were trafficked to the UK and six were previously known to them, having been brought to their attention as being at risk or in relation to criminal offences.

Steve Allen, a Metropolitan Police commander, said the raids had been justified and as a result 15 people had been charged over allegations of theft of mobile phones, handling stolen mobile phones, breach of a deportation order and immigration offences. One person, who admitted stealing mobile phones, was jailed for eight weeks.

He added: "The story would have been very different had I not acted - and had subsequently one of the children turned up dead. You would quite rightly be putting me on the spot and asking me questions about why I hadn't taken action."