Child sex crimes shock

The 214 children were victims of sex crimes including rape, incest and abuse through prostitution and pornography.

Of these, 47 had not reached secondary school age and 19 were aged five and under, but the majority of the offences, 132, were reported against 11- to 17-year-olds.

Dan Russell from the NSPCC said: “Many of these distressing offences are committed on extremely young and helpless children, who may not understand what is happening to them and are unable to ask for help. The NSPCC is doing what it can by using information like this from the police to tailor our treatment services. But we can’t tackle these problems by ourselves.”

If adults have concerns about a child they should immediately contact social services, police or call the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 where trained counsellors are on call 24 hours a day.