Child online grooming crimes increases by over 600 per cent in Derbyshire - more than any other county in the East Midlands

There were 285 offences recorded across the county in 2022 to 2023 compared to 37 in 2017 to 2018 – an increase of 670 per cent and a total of 890 crimes over six years.

Derbyshire saw more online sexual offences than any other county in the East Midlands – with 576 in Leicestershire, 496 in Lincolnshire and 651 in Nottinghamshire.

Since the introduction of Sexual Communication with a Child as an offence in 2017 more than 34,000 offences were recorded by police across the UK over the same period.

Data reveals 5,500 offences took place against primary school children, with under-12s making up a quarter of known victims.

A teenage girl now aged 19 given the fictional name of Sophia has told the NSPCC charity how she was 15 when she was groomed by a man posing as a boy who she was chatting to on social media.

She said: “He started getting angry if I didn’t reply quick enough or when I wasn’t saying exactly what he wanted to hear. It felt strange, how he was being, so I tried breaking off the conversation with him on Yubo. He just found me on Instagram and moved to messaging me directly there.

“He had started asking for selfies of me, then asking me to take my clothes off and send photos. When he threatened me and started being angry, I was petrified.

"He used the images to control me. I wasn’t even allowed to use the toilet without his permission. I was afraid to tell anyone because of the photos and his threats.

"He threatened to share the images of me with friends and family he’d found through my social media if I stopped replying.”

Figures taken from police forces across the UK show four out of five of grooming cases over the six years taking place against girls - where the gender was known.

Snapchat was used in more than a quarter of total instances over the six years - while Meta-owned products were used in almost half, where the means of communication was known.

150 different apps, games and websites were used to target children according to the police data analysed since 2017/18.

The NSPCC first called for social media regulation to protect children from sexual abuse in 2017 and has been campaigning for robust legislation ever since.

A draft Online Safety Bill was published over two years ago but regulation was first promised by Government in 2018 following the NSPCC’s call for action and the launch of its Wild West Web campaign.

The charity has been campaigning for strong legislation ever since, working closely with survivors, government, parliamentarians and other civil society groups to ensure it effectively tackles the way social media and gaming sites contribute to child sexual abuse.

The legislation will mean tech companies have a legal duty of care for young users and must assess their products for child abuse risks and put mitigations in place to protect children.

It will give the regulator Ofcom powers to address significant abuse taking place in private messaging and require companies to put safeguards in place to identify and disrupt abuse in end-to-end encrypted environments.

The NSPCC says these measures are vital to effectively protect children from the most abuse.

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC Chief Executive said: “Today’s research highlights the sheer scale of child abuse happening on social media and the human cost of fundamentally unsafe products.

“The number of offences must serve as a reminder of why the Online Safety Bill is so important and why the ground-breaking protections it will give children are desperately needed.

“We’re pleased the Government has listened and strengthened the legislation so companies must tackle how their sites contribute to child sexual abuse in a tough but proportionate way, including in private messaging.

“It’s now up to tech firms, including those highlighted by these stark figures today, to make sure their current sites and future services do not put children at unacceptable risk of abuse.”

The NSPCC is still seeking assurances that the legislation will effectively regulate AI and immersive technology and wants an online child safety advocacy body specifically to speak with and for children as part of the day-to-day regulatory regime.

They argue that this will help spot emerging risks and fight for the interests and safety of children before tragedies arise.

The charity are asking campaigners to reach out to MPs with personal messages about why they should act to make the online world safer for children and pass a robust Online Safety Bill in the coming weeks.