Just five people convicted of sexually grooming children

JUST five people were convicted of sexual grooming of children in Leicestershire in 2017.

Only 11 people in the police force area were prosecuted for sexual grooming in 2017, with nearly half of cases leading to convictions, according to Ministry of Justice figures.

The number of prosecutions was up from two in 2016, and was the highest number recorded in the past decade.

The figures relate to adults prosecuted for engaging in sexual communication with a child, and for meeting children aged under 16 following grooming.

Grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or trafficking. Children and young people can be groomed online or faceto-face, by a stranger or by someone they know.

The offence of sexual communication with a child only came into force on April 3, 2017, following a campaign by the NSPCC.

This may have contributed to a huge percentage increase in prosecution nationwide, which is also being reflected in Leicestershire.

Of those who were convicted in 2017, all were male - with two aged 25 and over, two aged between 21 and 24, and one aged between 18 and 20.

The data only covers cases where grooming was the main charge.

That means some others may have been prosecuted or convicted of grooming alongside other, more serious, crimes.

Across England and Wales, there were 557 people prosecuted for sexual grooming in 2017.

This was the highest number in the 11 years for which data is available and represents a sixfold increase compared to 98 prosecutions in 2007.

It is up two thirds compared to 2016 alone, when there were 333 prosecutions.

The proportion of prosecutions which ends in a conviction has, however, fallen to its lowest level on record.

Of those prosecuted last year, less than half were convicted - just 241.

Almost all of those convicted in 2017 were men, of whom 182 were aged 25 and over, 15 were aged between 18 and 20, and 41 were aged 21 to 24. There were three other people whose gender was not recorded.

Two women were prosecuted for sexual grooming in 2017 and both were found not guilty.

Data from the Ministry of Justice suggests there was a further 437 cases in 2017 where sexual grooming was an additional charge.

Of these, common offence was assault of a child.

In 231 cases, the offender was also charged with sexual activity with a child aged under 16, in 60 cases they were charged with sexual activity with a child aged under 13, in 29 cases they were charged with the most principal sexual abuse of children through prostitution and pornography, and in 16 cases they were charged with rape of a girl aged under 16.

The NSPCC said the majority grooming offences are discovered by cybercrime units or when children report more serious abuse.

The charity said it was quite rare for children to disclose they had been victims of grooming.

Andy Burrows, Associate Head Child Safety Online at the NSPCC, said: “Many of these offences lead to horrific and sustained sexual abuse which is why every effort must be made to prevent children being groomed in the first place.

“Last year police in England and Wales recorded more than 3,200 offences of sexual communication with a child, and we know offenders mainly used Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram to target their victims.

“The inaction of tech giants to combat this shows they cannot be relied on to tackle the abuse problem blighting their sites.

“The NSPCC’s Wild West Web campaign is calling on the Government to create an independent regulator with power to investigate and fine platforms which don’t do enough to stop groom- ers.”

Not all reports to the police will be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and of those that are, the CPS only prosecute cases where there is enough evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest.

A CPS spokesperson said: “Child sexual grooming is an extremely serious offence, last year we took more cases to court than ever before.

“We can only consider cases which are referred to us by the police, but - where there is sufficient evidence and the public interest is met - we will not hesitate to prosecute.”