Cyber child sex crimes soar in region

Offences soared from 114 in 2015/16 to 213 in 2016/17, according to figures released by the children's charity.

It has prompted the NSPCC to call on the next government to make online safety a top priority.

The majority of victims in West Mercia were aged between 13 and 15, but 10 of them were 10-years-old or younger.

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Last year across England and Wales, 5,653 child sex crimes committed against children as young as three had an online element.

A total of 39 police forces reported cyber-related sex crimes against under-18s that included rape, grooming, and sexual assault.

This number has risen by 44 per cent from 2015/16, when 39 forces across England and Wales who responded to the same freedom of information request by the NSPCC recorded 3,903 cyber-related sexual offences.

This is the second year police have been required to record – cyber flag – any crime that involved the internet.

The latest figures show police are recording an average of 15 internet-related sex crimes against children a day.

For offences where age was recorded, the most common age for the victim was 13.

However, there were nearly 100 offences nationwide committed against children aged 10 and under, with the youngest victim aged just three.

Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, said: “These figures confirm our fears that offenders are exploiting the internet to target children for their own dark deeds.

“Children also tell our Childline service that they are being targeted online by some adults who pose as children and try to meet them, or persuade them to perform sexual acts on webcams, before blackmailing them.

"This terrifies them and can leave some feeling worthless, depressed, and suicidal.

“We cannot idly sit by knowing that more and more innocent young people are being harmed online.

"Today’s worrying data leaves the next government with no choice but to urgently address this issue.

"We are calling on them to force internet companies and social media sites to adhere to rules that keep their young users safe.”

The NSPCC wants an independent regulator to hold social media companies to account and fine them where they fail to protect children

The charity is also asking the government to draw up minimum standards that internet companies must meet to safeguard children.

It wants children to be automatically offered safer social media accounts, with default privacy settings, to protect them from harmful content and offenders who seek to prey on them.

And the charity is urging police forces to ensure all officers understand how people use the web to prey on children, how to investigate such crimes and effectively safeguard victims.

Detective Superintendent Adrian McGee, from West Mercia Police, said: "I am not surprised that the NSPCC has identified an increase in the recording of offences against children over the last 12 months, as in the West Mercia Police area we have created a dedicated team of officers to combat child abuse and exploitation by targeting those who offend online.

"The implementation of these teams means that we are now more equipped and skilled than ever to target offenders, which is what we will continue to do.

“It is well understood that advances in technology make it easier than ever to share images using smart phones and for those images to be shared with other people, this has contributed towards a rise in cyber-related child sex abuse crimes. There are people who will use the internet to groom, trawling social media and gaming sites looking for people to target and exploit and those who download and share indecent images of children. It is those offenders that we are targeting to protect the children.

“West Mercia Police takes all reports of child abuse very seriously, we also have dedicated and specialist teams to deal with these cases, and we work together with other agencies and local safeguarding children boards, to achieve this protection.

"Protecting children is a priority for us and we are committed, with our partners, to bringing offenders to justice, while providing a supportive and caring service to those who have been affected."