Fears as child sexting cases rise by a third

♦ Inadequate sex education could be to blame for a rise in sexting cases among children, a senior police officer has said.

Figures show that so-called sexting cases involving children have more than doubled in two years. Police forces in England and Wales registered 6,238 sexting offences in 2016-17, which is a rate of 17 every day.

The total was up by a third (33per cent) on the 4,681 tally the previous year, and 131 per cent on 2014-15’s total of 2,700.

Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, raised concerns over the impact of extreme pornography after a surge in the number of under-18s sharing or possessing sexual images.

Mr Bailey said: “We need to consider if a lack of universal relationship and sex education is compounding the problem.”