Revealed: 4,000 London children ‘at risk of sexual exploitation’

The Met expects sexual exploitation figures to rise
Justin Davenport3 March 2016
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Nearly 4,000 children in London have been identified as being at risk of sexual exploitation, it was revealed today.

The total number of cases has been recorded by the Met since the launch in 2014 of a new protocol to identify potential victims in the wake of child abuse scandals in Rotherham and Oxford.

Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Niven, head of the Met’s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command, said the number of reports continued to rise.

He told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that there had been 3,934 referrals of suspected child sexual exploitation since 2014.

In the first year there were 1,737 referrals which jumped to 2,060 in 2015, a rise of 18.5 per cent. So far this year 137 cases have been referred to the Met.

He said there had been 166 charges linked to child sexual exploitation which had resulted in people being jailed for more than 100 years, and that police had made 433 “positive interventions” to safeguard victims.

Samantha Cunningham, head of offender management for the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime, said more officers needed training in how to spot signs of child sexual exploitation.

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