CYBER-RELATED sex crimes against children under the age of 18 have increased by nearly 200 per cent in Dorset, figures have revealed.

Children’s charity NSPCC has highlighted the shocking rise in sex offenders targeting children online between 2015/16 and 2018/19.

Police are required by law to add a ‘cyber flag’ to any child sexual offences that involved the internet in some capacity, such as online grooming, or using the internet to meet up with a child.

In Dorset, there were 82 recorded sexual offences against children that had a cyber flag attached in 2018/19. This number has risen from 28 in 2015/16.

The NSPCC is now calling on the next prime minister to stand firm against industry lobbying by prioritising online safety in law-making.

Molly* lives in the south west of England and was 15 when she met Gavin* at a youth organisation, and they began talking online. She thinks a change in the law would help a lot of young people who are receiving sexual messages from adults and unsure of how to handle the situation.

After a month-and-a-half of talking to Gavin, the messages began getting more personal and sexual. She deleted the messages as she felt disgusted. He would send her messages asking to pick her up and take her to school. When she would ask if a friend could come along, he would refuse. He began to park outside her house and text her to tell her to go to his car and sit with him.

After reporting the incidents to police, she spent three days hiding away in her bedroom and stopped going to school. Molly was referred to the NSPCC’s Letting The Future In service, which has helped her work through her worries and help her move on from what has happened.

The NSPCC says the number of sex offences against children has doubled in the last four years across England, Wales and Northern Ireland since police began recording whether a crime had an internet element with a cyber flag.

For offences where the age was recorded, 13 was the most common age of the victim, but there were 185 offences committed against children aged ten and under, even including babies yet to reach their first birthday.

The NSPCC fears that the figures may not reveal the true extent of the problem due to potential under-recording of the role of online in these crimes and wide logging variation across forces.

The figures have been revealed just days before the government closes its consultation on its Online Harms white paper, which proposes to introduce an independent regulator to enforce a legal duty of care on tech companies to keep users safe on their platforms.

Peter Wanless, CEO of NSPCC, said: “Behind each offence is a child suffering at the hands of sex offenders and, worryingly, we know these figures are the tip of the iceberg.

“Far too many children are drowning in a sea of online threats so it’s now time for the next prime minister, whoever he may be, to cast out the life jacket.

“He must hold his nerve and introduce an independent regulator to protect children from the risks of abuse and harmful content.”