NEARLY forty child grooming crimes were committed in Warwickshire in the last 12 months – up from just two in 2013-14.
Home Office figures show Warwickshire Police recorded 85 grooming offences since April 2013 – with 39 of them (45 per cent) coming in the last year.
And the statistics for the last 12 months do not even include January to March – although they do include the new offence of Sexual Communication with a Child, which was brought into force in April 2017, and offences for Meeting a Child After Grooming.
The charity revealed that Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp were used in 52 per cent of UK online grooming cases where police disclosed which methods were used.
The youngest child to be targeted in the first nine months of the new offence of Sexual Communication with a Child was just two years old.
The NSPCC’s #WildWestWeb campaign is calling on Culture Secretary Matt Hancock to bring in a mandatory safety code to regulate social networks and keep children safe online.
The charity believes Mr Hancock will only introduce a voluntary social media safety code with no plans to prevent grooming in his in-progress Internet Safety Strategy.
NSPCC’s head of child safety online Tony Stower said: “These crimes show the sheer scale of grooming, where predators have either messaged their victim or gone on to meet them in person.
“At present our Government is only prepared to tackle grooming after the harm has been done, and its forthcoming Internet Safety Strategy has no plans to prevent grooming from happening in the first place.
“Culture Secretary Matt Hancock could change this and bring an end to the Wild West Web. I urge him to bring in regulation for social networks, backed by an independent regulator with teeth.”
Warwickshire Police has been contacted for comment.
