How groomers operate - why victims become trapped

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How groomers operate - why victims become trapped

Birmingham , Entertainer and children's author David Walliams is alleged to have used his fame to approach teenage girls, in some cases reportedly initiating sexual contact with them. Walliams has denied the allegations, but the claims raise some familiar tropes about grooming: why did she go, why didn't she say no, why didn't she tell anyone?

After a legal battle, ITV News and The Guardian have now published the findings of a three-year investigation into Walliams, reporting allegations that date back to 2003.

In this and other cases, there will always be people who focus not on the claims, but on the young person and what they should have done differently. Linguistic research on how grooming actually works suggests that this instinct is exactly the result that grooming is designed to produce.

Many people imagine sexual grooming as a recognisable and clearly staged process. Build friendship, then trust, then secrecy – all leading towards the offender's ultimate goal of sexual gratification. But if this were the case, victims could notice the steps and walk away.

Along with a colleague, I undertook linguistic analysis of real chatroom conversations between convicted offenders and adult volunteers posing as 12- to 14-year-old girls. The conversations were made public by the now-defunct organisation Perverted Justice, whose activity led to the apprehension and conviction of the offenders. In our analysis, we did not find the pattern mentioned above.

We identified 14 recurring "moves" – parts of the offenders' language that have particular functions. These include building rapport , assessing risk by checking parents' schedules or the presence of a boyfriend, escalating sexual topics and planning offline meetings. But these moves overlapped and repeated, with no typical structure emerging.

Rather, offenders seemed to tailor their grooming styles, perhaps according to their individual goals and who they believed they were talking to.

What was consistent was the large amount…

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