NSPCC reveals internet role in hundreds of child sex offences in Wales

• New statistics show how offenders have exploited the web
• NSPCC demands next UK government introduce strict online safety measures to protect children
• Internet played a role in contact offences including rape, sexual assault, and grooming

The internet was used to commit nearly 700 child sexual offences in Wales in the last 12 months according to figures obtained by NSPCC Cymru / Wales, as the charity called on the Welsh government to ensure its recently announced online safety action plan is developed swiftly – with experts.

This is the second year police have been required to record – ‘cyber flag’ – any crime that involved the internet.

Across England and Wales the latest figures show police are recording an average of 15 internet-related sex crimes against children a day, highlighting a worrying trend in how predators are using the internet to target children. There were 5,653 cyber-flagged child sex crimes last year, up from 3,903 in 2015/16.

690 were recorded in Wales in 2016/17. South Wales Police was the only Welsh force not to provide figures in response to an NSPCC Freedom of Information request:

Dyfed-Powys: 554

Gwent: 36

North Wales: 100

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

The age of victims was not recorded by the three Welsh forces.

In England, for offences where age was recorded, 13 was the most common age of the victim (257) but there were nearly 100 offences committed against children aged ten and under, with the youngest victim aged just three-years-old.

The troubling figures are revealed today 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.

The NSPCC is also 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
• Government to draw up minimum standards that internet companies must meet to safeguard children
• 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.

The charity is also urging police forces to ensure all officers understand how people use the web to prey on children, how to investigate such crimes, and effectively safeguard victims.

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.

“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.”