A MAN in his 20s who features in a large-scale police investigation into child sexual exploitation twice made a teenager pregnant, a family court judge was told.

The teenager, now 17, fell pregnant at 15 and gave birth to a boy at 16, Judge Simon Wood heard.

She then became pregnant again at 16 and was due to give birth again soon.

Social workers had characterised the man's relationship with the teenager as "abusive".

The man featured in Operation Sanctuary - an investigation into allegations of sexual offences being run by Northumbria Police, the judge heard.

Detail has emerged in a ruling by Judge Wood following a family court hearing in Newcastle.

The judge said social services staff at Newcastle City Council had asked him to make decisions about the future of the teenager's son - who is approaching his first birthday.

He concluded the little boy should be placed for adoption.

"(The teenager) was just 15 and a half when she became pregnant to, it is now agreed, ... the father, who was then 24 years old," said Judge Wood in a written ruling.

"An issue throughout the case has been the status of the relationship, which the local authority characterise as an abusive one, with (the father) featuring in the on-going police investigation into child sexual exploitation, known as Operation Sanctuary."

The judge said the teenager had grown up in a "dysfunctional family" with an "impoverished upbringing".

He said police had asked for detail of the family court proceedings to be disclosed to them.

Operation Sanctuary as an investigation into allegations of a series of sexual offences, predominantly within Newcastle but covering other council areas relating to a "number of men from a range of communities" and "vulnerable female victims" - including teenagers.