"the law took these offences seriously....."
Depends who you mean by 'the law' Howard.
Last Friday's Times disclosed that the reason for the apparent disinterest (to the extent of boredom) by the authorities in the Lancashire and Yorkshire procuring of underage girls for sex was that even though it was technically against the law, they decided not to act on it because they decided it was "consensual" and therefore not worth acting upon (which should put paid once and for all to any idea that the culture or nationality of the perpetrators had anything to do with their decision).
Jim Carroll