Online grooming offences total 170 for region

West Mercia Police recorded 140 of these offences, while Dyfed-Powys Police recorded 32.

More than 5,000 online grooming offences were recorded by police across England and Wales, data obtained by the NSPCC has revealed.

Nationally, the recorded use of Instagram for this crime has risen dramatically over the 18 months.

From April 2017 to September 2017, where the communication method was recorded, Instagram was used by groomers in 126 instances, whereas between April 2018 and September 2018 it was recorded 428 times – more than a 200 per cent increase.

The data obtained from 39 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, under Freedom of Information laws, also shows that in the latest six-month period, girls aged 12 to 15 were most likely to be targeted by groomers and that victims included children as young as five years old.

Tragedy

The NSPCC is urging ministers to tame the ‘wild west web’ by bringing in statutory regulation to enforce a legal duty of care to children on social networks, backed by hefty fines if they fail.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “These figures are overwhelming evidence that keeping children safe cannot be left to social networks.

“We cannot wait for the next tragedy before tech companies are made to act.

“It is hugely concerning to see the sharp spike in grooming offences on Instagram, and it is vital that the platform designs basic protection more carefully into the service it offers young people.

“After 10 years of failed self-regulation by social networks, it is crucial that the Government’s imminent Online Harms White Paper includes new laws that tackle online grooming once and for all.”

Detective Superintendent Anthony Griffiths, head of protecting vulnerable people at Dyfed-Powys Police, said: “We acknowledge and are absolutely aware of the increase in child grooming cases we are dealing with as a force and would welcome any statutory changes put in place to try to reduce this crime.

“We have invested hugely in our cyber-crime unit in the last two years to ensure we have the right people, skills and technology to be able to detect such crime and also carry out work to protect children from being groomed. We do this through crime prevention talks at events, groups, meetings and sharing advice with children and their parents to make them aware of child grooming and how to prevent it.

"We have also introduced a team that proactively identifies people suspected of online grooming and seeks to arrest and charge those responsible.”

Between April 2018 to September 2018, police recorded 1,944 grooming offences.

Police revealed which methods groomers used in 1,317 instances, and records show Instagram was used in 32 per cent, Facebook in 23 per cent and Snapchat in 14 per cent of those instances.