Just one in 34 child sex abuse-related crime reports leads to a charge

SOUTH Yorkshire Police urged anyone with concerns about child sexual exploitation to keep coming forward, despite figures showing just one in every 34 CSE-related offence recorded last year ended in a suspect being charged.

A Freedom of Information request response showed 540 incidents in 2019/20 were flagged as being connected to CSE – but just 16 led to a charge.

Of the CSE-tagged crimes recorded last year, 135 related to the alleged rape of a girl aged under 16, 176 to sexual activity with a child and 27 to sexual grooming.

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In the previous year, a total of 486 crimes in South Yorkshire were linked to CSE, of which 34 led to a suspect being charged.

South Yorkshire Police said that in a third of the 2019/20 cases, no suspect had been identified, while in around one in seven the victim did not support a prosecution.

The force also pointed out 170 of the cases recorded in 2019/20 were part of active investigations under the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood.

A police spokeswoman said: “South Yorkshire Police continues to treat every report of CSE, as with all forms of child exploitation and abuse as a high priority.

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“SYP work closely with partners and will actively continue to investigate all CSE reports and take any action possible to prosecute and disrupt the perpetrators who commit these despicable acts.

“Of the 540 CSE tagged offences in 2019/2020, 169 were cases where a suspect was not identified. There were also 75 cases where the suspect was identified, but the victim did not support a prosecution.

“This is sadly quite common with CSE offences, where victims either don’t realise they are being exploited, or through fear or other coercion are reluctant to inform people of what is happening, who is involved and subsequently don’t support the investigation through to court.

“This is why it’s absolutely vital that anyone with any concerns about CSE reports it, so the best and most appropriate support can be put in place for each individual victim.

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“We strongly encourage anyone with concerns around child abuse or exploitation to speak to someone.”

You can report incidents to the police on 101, get information and advice from the NSPCC or ChildLine, or text ‘Say Something’ to 118 000.