Rape of children soaring

The number of under 13-year-olds who have been raped has rocketed 38 per cent. Police records show there were 1,752 reports of young children being raped last year - 484 more than in 2004. There had also been a 28 per cent rise in the amount of sexual grooming of youngsters, mainly on the web. Meanwhile, the number of children dragged into prostitution or pornography saw a 27 per cent surge - with an extra 51 offences. There were also 425 more sex assaults on under 13s last year - up eight per cent. For 13 to 16-year-olds, there was a three per cent increase in rape - to 3,334 cases.

Ministers fear the official police-recorded crime statistics are an indictment of England's growing paedophile underworld. A Home Office official said: "This report makes very grim reading. "It's a truly shocking rise in the figures." The statistics came just a day after ministers owned up to a new mugging outbreak. There was an eight per cent climb in the number of robberies last year.

source: 'Rape of children soaring' by George Pascoe-Watson; www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006330623,00.html; The Sun Online; 21 July 2006