CHILD sex offenders have been involved in more than 70 offences of sexual communication with children in West Mercia since a new anti-grooming law was brought in.

West Mercia Police has recorded 73 such offences since April last year, 37 involving Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram.

Eight offences recorded by West Mercia involved victims aged 11 and under, with 48 involving victims aged 12 to 15.

More than 3,000 offences have been recorded in England and Wales in the first year since a new anti-grooming law came into force, with the youngest child targeted aged just five years old.

Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram were the top three most-recorded sites out of 80 different methods used in grooming offences.

The new crime of sexual communication with a child came into force on April 3 2017 following an NSPCC campaign.

In the first year a total of 3,171 crimes were recorded by police – amounting to nine grooming offences per day.

Police revealed which methods groomers used in 2,097 instances, and records show Facebook was used in nearly 30 per cent of those cases, while Snapchat and Instagram were each used in around a fifth of cases.

Following the NSPCC’s #WildWestWeb campaign, Digital Secretary Matt Hancock announced that laws will be brought in to regulate social networks, to keep children safe and prevent harms such as grooming.

The charity is now campaigning to ensure those laws are sufficiently robust to prevent grooming and to truly keep children safe.

It is calling on Government to create mandatory safety rules that social networks are legally required to follow, establish an independent regulator to enforce safety laws and fine non-compliant sites, require social media sites to publish annual safety reports and force platforms to develop technology to detect grooming using algorithms.

It comes ahead of the charity’s annual flagship conference How Safe Are Our Children? which begins on Wednesday, June 20 and has the theme Growing Up Online.

Across England and Wales, where police disclosed the gender and age of the victim, girls aged 12-15 were recorded as being the victim in 62 per cent of cases. And under-11s were recorded as the victim in nearly a quarter of cases.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “These numbers are far higher than we had predicted, and every single sexual message from an adult to a child can have a huge impact for years to come.

“Social networks have been self-regulated for a decade and it’s absolutely clear that children have been harmed as a result.

“I urge Digital Secretary Matt Hancock to follow through on his promise and introduce safety rules backed up in law and enforced by an independent regulator with fining powers.

“Social networks must be forced to design extra protections for children into their platforms, including algorithms to detect grooming to prevent abuse from escalating.”

Detective Chief Inspector Rick Klair said: "West Mercia Police takes each reports of child sexual exploitation and grooming extremely seriously - in a world of social media and mobile phones young people can be vulnerable to those who trawl social media and gaming sites, preying on innocent children and exploiting their trust.

"In Worcestershire we have dedicated, specialist officers tackling grooming and people targeting children online. Youth Engagement Teams and Safer Schools officers work in schools with young people and teachers, helping to educate around online safety and healthy relationships.

"Protecting children is a priority for us and together with our partners we are determined to bring anyone to justice who is engaging in sexual communication with a child. We are equally concerned with the welfare of children already affected and continue to support those young people who have been have been brave enough to talk to us.

"We are committed to raising awareness across Worcestershire of child sexual exploitation through our campaign www.tell-someone.org