Huge rise in cyber-related sex crimes against children

THE internet was used to commit nearly 700 child sexual offences in Wales in the past 12 months, new figures have revealed.

NSPCC Cymru/Wales, which contacted all four police forces in Wales, discovered there were 690 recorded child sex crimes in 201617.

That figure is expected to be far higher as South Wales Police did not respond to the request due to grounds of cost.

Dyfed-Powys Police recorded 554 of these crimes in 2016, followed by North Wales (100) and Gwent (36).

All four Welsh forces provided figures in 2015-16, when 296 child sex crimes had an online element in Wales.

This is the second year police have been required to record – or “cyber-flag” – any crime that involved the internet.

Des Mannion, head of NSPCC Cymru/Wales, said: “These figures confirm our fears that offenders are exploiting the internet to target children for their own dark deeds. Children also tell our Childline service that they are being targeted online by some adults who pose as children and try to meet them, or persuade them to perform sexual acts on webcams, before blackmailing them. This terrifies them and can leave some feeling worthless, depressed, and suicidal. We cannot sit idly by knowing that more and more innocent young people are being harmed online.”

The troubling figures are revealed as NSPCC Cymru/Wales calls for a recently-announced online safety action plan to be developed swiftly in Wales, with an expert advisory group.

The Welsh Government has revealed its intention to create a plan following long-standing calls by the charity.

Mr Mannion added: “NSPCC Cymru/Wales has long called for a comprehensive online safety action plan and the Welsh Government’s decision to develop one is a step in the right direction.

“We hope these new measures will support professionals and parents to equip children and young people with the skills to stay safe on the web.

“It’s absolutely critical that ministers create an advisory group – made up of experts from police, internet providers, education and child protection charities – to support the development of this new plan.”

Across England and Wales the latest figures show police are recording an average of 15 internet-related sex crimes against children a day.

There were 5,653 cyber-flagged child sex crimes last year, up from 3,903 in 2015-16 – a rise of 44%.

Rape, sexual assault and grooming were among the offences logged which had a “cyber flag”, meaning the crime had an online element, with the youngest victim aged three.

The NSPCC is calling on the next UK government to make child online safety a top priority. It is demanding: an independent regulator to hold social media companies to account and fine them where they fail to protect children;

the government to draw up minimum standards that internet companies must meet to safeguard children, and;

children to be automatically offered safer social media accounts, with default privacy settings, to protect them from harmful content and offenders who seek to prey on them.