More than 23,000 child sex offences – 64 every day – were recorded by cops in England and Wales in 2009/10.They included brutal crimes such as rape, incest and gross indecency. The total was up eight per cent on the previous year and 13 per cent up on the year before.
One in four of the victims were 11 or under and more than 1,000 were four or younger. All 43 forces were quizzed by the NSPCC using freedom of information requests. Of the 23,390 child sex offences, more than half of victims – 12,088 – were aged 12 to 15, around one in four – 5,164 – were aged five to 11 and 5,022 were aged 16 and 17.
The number aged four or under totalled 1,028 and a further 88 were unknown. The NSPCC’s Jon Brown said: “Thousands of people come forward every year to report sex crimes against children. “But many victims are too young to ask for help. Others are too scared to tell anyone about their suffering until years later.
“The rise in recorded sex offences against children is a real concern and we need to find ways to help victims and change the behaviour of young offenders.”
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