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Charlene Downes was just 14-years-old when she was last seen alive.

The schoolgirl had spent the evening with her sister, Becky, and several friends in her home town of Blackpool.

But then she vanished without a trace, presumed dead.

A new Channel 5 documentary examines what really happened to the teenager, who was hiding a dark secret.

Charlene was one of possibly many young girls to be dragged into Blackpool's seedy underbelly.

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She was part of the child grooming culture in Blackpool that has been described as an "epidemic" by the detectives leading the initial investigation into her death.

Growing up in a tough working class household, even her mum Karen admitted her husband, and Charlene's father, Bob, could be "strict" with the kids.

Karen said: " I was soft as a parent, I would give into them but Bob was stricter than me.

"He used to shout and when his voice wasn't enough, he would slap their legs and drag them to their bedroom.

"I used to say 'please don't do that, leave them alone'."

(Image: PA)

The teenager's close friends say Charlene was always a loving person - but then she suddenly changed.

Those who knew her around the time she disappeared claim Charlene was one of the tragic victims of Blackpool's child grooming.

Tyne Yates could have been one of the last people to see Charlene alive as she was with her on the night she went missing.

One of her closest friends, Martin, said: "We used to get given drugs and alcohol all the time.

"There was an alley we used to come to and she would be waiting at the bottom and if the police came, she would shout me.

(Image: Channel 5)

"I would do it in the alley and give her half the money because she was watching out for me."

Chillingly, the first time Tyne had sex for money was when she was just 12 and wearing her school uniform.

Her mother sold her to a man for just £250.

Tyne said: "I went from being a kid looking for excitement to being passed around groups of men for sex.

"As I got older, turned my back on my family, I got hooked on drugs and arrested countless times. I ended up a street prostitute, just like my mum."

(Image: focusfeatures.co.uk)

Charlene's close friend, Martin, also recalls Charlene suddenly changing.

He said: "She wasn't a prostitute. She as a lovely human being who loved anyone who was nice to her.

"It was a gradual process and then she just snapped. She acted like she didn't give a f***."

And journalist Joe Cusack, who has been following the case since she first disappeared, said: "Charlene Downes had a lifestyle that needed money and we believe that she was a victim of the child sex exploitation and that's how she got her money."

During the probe into Charlene's disappearance police spoke to thousands of people and found teenage girls were "swapping sex for food, cigarettes and affection".

(Image: Channel 5)

Detective Don Fraser said: "We discovered what we believed to be an epidemic of he sex abuse of children.

"These girls were 14 or 15 and were far too young to be taken advantage of by adults."

Two men - kebab shop owners Iyad Albattikhi and Mohammed Reveshi - were charged in connection with Charlene's murder.

Albattikhi and Reveshi have always denied any involvement in the teenager's disappearance and suspected death.

Albattikhi was chared with her murder while Reveshi was accused of disposing of her body.

Both stood trial in May 2007 but the jury failed to reach a verdict.

A retrial was ordered for the following year but the covert-surrveillance gathered by Lancashire Police was found to contain errors, the case dropped and the men were released.

Both men have also repeatedly denied being involved in grooming gangs.

Since then, the investgation into what happened to Charlene Downes has been re-opened.

Det Supt Andrew Webster is leading the probe.

He said: "We're also investigating child exploitation."