Five new church sex offences each week

AT LEAST five new church sex offences are reported to police each week – and half of them involve children, according to shocking new figures.

Statistics from forces across the UK reveal that the number of sex offences reported to have taken place in religious buildings has risen by 20 per cent in the past year.

The figures, released to The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws, showed that in the past three years, 725 such crimes were reported, with 368 of them relating to child abuse.

Most cases were at churches but the figures also included offences at mosques and Sikh temples.

Phil Johnson, spokesman for the charity Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, said: ‘We’ve seen numbers increase dramatically in the past few years because of the Jimmy Savile effect, but those that go to the police are in the minority.’

Graham Wilmer, of The Lantern Project, which supports child sex abuse victims, added that based on the number of those who do not report crimes, the real number of offences could be ten times higher.