Three children targeted every hour in rising sex crimes toll

Rising numbers of children are being sexually abused and many more victims are too afraid to come forward, campaigners have warned after figures showed a child is targeted every 20 minutes in England and Wales.

Police recorded more than 23,000 child sex offences between April 2009 and March 2010 – a 13 per cent increase in only two years.

They included more than 2,500 crimes in Yorkshire, of which 164 involved victims aged four or under. Almost 800 of the offences in the region concerned complainants aged five to 11.

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One in four of the known suspects nationwide was also aged under 18, prompting Britain’s leading children’s charity, the NSPCC, to demand better services to change young offenders’ behaviour.

The statistics, described as “appalling“ by the Government, were disclosed as fears were raised about a postcode lottery in Yorkshire in terms of the standard of support sexual assault victims receive.

The NSPCC’s regional head of service for Yorkshire, Gordon Ratcliffe, 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.”

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Mr Ratcliffe added that the charity, which obtained the police figures under the Freedom of Information Act, was ready to provide nationwide schemes to prevent young people from carrying out sex attacks, as well as testing different therapies for helping children recover from abuse.

West Yorkshire Police recorded the third highest number of child sex offences in England and Wales, with only the two largest constabularies, the Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police, receiving more reports.

A force spokeswoman said: “The circumstances of such offences are many and varied.

“Dedicated specialist rape and child abuse investigators undertake thorough investigations, ensuring the outcome of every case is based upon a comprehensive assessment of all the available evidence and is centred on the needs of the victim and our responsibility to protect the wider public.”

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South Yorkshire Police’s head of specialist crime services, Det Chief Supt Steve Talbot, said: “Many offences against children are committed by other children and many offences are committed by adults within the family environment.”

Sex abuse victims of all ages in South Yorkshire are supported at a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), which offers counselling, medical care and forensic examination around the clock.

Another SARC is up and running in the Humberside Police area, and work is progressing in West Yorkshire, but North Yorkshire Police has said it requires more funding before it can offer similar services.

Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh described the situation as “unacceptable” and promised to write to Home Secretary Theresa May and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, calling on them to intervene.

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Katie Russell, a Yorkshire-based board member of the charity Rape Crisis, said: “SARCs can be fantastic but provision is quite patchy, and where the centres exist they need to be supported by and co-operate with longer-term support services like Rape Crisis.

“The situation in North Yorkshire is particularly significant because there is no Rape Crisis centre in the county either. The last one closed a number of years ago.”

North Yorkshire Police’s head of major crime, Det Supt Lewis Raw, said work had been carried out to improve its standard of care to victims, including establishing a pool of specially trained officers and upgrading a forensic medical facility in York.

“This upgrade means that the facility now has the capability to host SARC services,” Det Supt Raw added.

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“However, extra funding would be required to develop such services.”

But a Home Office spokesman said it had already provided a £75,000 grant for an SARC in North Yorkshire, plus about £30,000 to carry out associated work.