NSPCC obtains Cheshire Police figures showing more than 300 child sex offences for county over year

Feb 11 2010 by Mark Dowling, Chester Chronicle

SHOCK figures have revealed there were more than 300 child sex offences in Cheshire during 2008/09, including one on a two-year-old victim.

The statistics from Cheshire Police, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, were requested by the NSPCC.

Now the organisation is calling for the government to produce a national sex abuse prevention strategy.

The charity asked all 43 police forces across England and Wales for the figures, covering April 2008 to March 2009, in an effort to put pressure on the government to publish the details and to clearly link them with the number of convictions and other penalties resulting from the recorded offences.

There were a total of 318 known sex offences on young people in Cheshire, with 51 being for children aged 10 or under and five aged just three years old.

Nationally, there were 21,618 offences, equating to nearly 60 a day.

One in seven of these offences was against children younger than 10 years old, and more than 1,000 were on children aged five or younger.

NSPCC director of strategy and development, Phillip Noyes, said: “We know as most abuse goes unreported, such figures can only ever give an indication of the true extent of the problem.

“Many children do not speak out about the sexual abuse they have suffered because they are scared they will not be believed.

Help is always available through ChildLine, the free, confidential 24-hour helpline number 0800 1111, provided by the NSPCC.

Children and young people can also log on to www.childline.org.uk for help and advice.

org.uk, if they are concerned.”