Britain’s top policeman has said people working in indoor shopping centres should be educated on the risks of children being sexually exploited by grooming gangs because forces “cannot be everywhere, every time”.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said that whilst the devastating issue of vulnerable children being sexually that has emerged in around 50 UK towns and cities is not the biggest risk to youngsters living in the capital city, he says more work needs to be done to ensure safety.

And he believes that other bodies outside of organisations such as police, council, schools and care homes can assist in the quest to tackle the problem.

Addressing the London Assembly Sir Mark suggested that shop staff and shopping centre managers and security could be taught to spot signs that a child is at risk.

He said:  “We need others to help us spot children at risk of exploitation because we are not a children’s agency, we are not everywhere, in every place at every time, we need as many eyes out there as possible.

“I’ve seen a recent report suggesting doing some work with a shopping centre in London because that’s where kids who are vulnerable could be. They are looking for somewhere warm to hang around and we can teach them to be aware of what the warning signs might be and for them to then report. We are trying to find different ways, because the more we can increase our radar the more we reduce the risk.”

Sir Mark told the panel that he “can’t guarantee” that London did not have a hidden grooming gang problem to mirror the worst areas such as Rotherham or Rochdale, but said he believed children in London were far more at risk of being exploited by county line and street drug gangs.

He added: “I can’t guarantee that there is something out there that we haven’t seen, but are we doing absolutely everything we possibly can do. Our team are working extremely hard, and we have dealt with issues such as victim blaming language, and saying things like “this is just a regular runaway” which means you are immediately putting yourself in the mindset that the problem is with the child rather than something around the child. We have dealt with that.”