CHILD sexual offences in the West Midlands increased by over a fifth from 2018 to 2019, new figures show.
Last year, there were more than 3500 sexual offences committed against children in the region, almost ten per day.
The number of child sexual abuse offences investigated by West Midlands Police rose from 3391 in 2018, to 3588 in 2019.
Numbers recorded in the first half of 2020 show a slight fall in abuse recorded per week, with 1612 incidents from January to July.
The sickening figures come as children’s charity NSPCC highlighted the impact of the coronavirus on children at risk.
Calls to its Childline helpline have soared due to the pandemic lockdown, as victims said sexual abuse had become more frequent during lockdown, as they were spending more time with their abuser.
The charity said girls were almost four times as likely than boys to be victims of abuse.
Its national average found a child is abused every seven minutes. It revealed 450 sex crimes against babies were recorded nationally in the past year.
Since the stay-at-home guidance was issued, the number of Childline counselling sessions about sexual abuse within the family has increased from an average of 8
counselling sessions per week to 23 counselling sessions per week. Girls accounted for
almost all the increase, rising from an average of 4 counselling sessions per week to
17 per week.
Lockdown has compounded abuse for victims, as some children told Childline a perpetrator had more time at home. Others told counsellors they were being
abused by a sibling. One girl said she was being sexually abused by her stepbrother: “I am too embarrassed to tell anyone as I should have said something
earlier but it didn’t happen so much before. Over the last few weeks things have got far worse and last night he did something to really hurt me.”
Some children found they had noone to speak to about abuse because of the lockdown. One girl told Childline: ” I am being made to do sexual things by someone in
my family and I am too scared to say who it is. I don’t want it to continue but I don’t know how to escape from it.
“I feel you are my only support at the moment, because I am not at school and feel anxious at the thought of speaking to my family or my GP.”
Peter Wanless, NSPCC CEO said: “The crisis of child sexual abuse is not going away and behind these figures are thousands of children and young people who have reported crimes that can have a devastating impact on their lives.
“Urgent action is needed to prevent abuse and to ensure children are supported to recover when they bravely speak out.
“We need concerted leadership from governments across the UK to implement strategies on tackling child sexual abuse that put the experiences and needs of children at their heart and are effective in preventing abuse and helping young people recover.”
