West Mercia Police records hundreds of child cruelty offences during pandemic

The smiling face of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was tortured by his father and stepmother before they killed him in June 2020, will forever be a reminder of the devastation child abuse can wreak upon innocent lives.

But tragically, the six-year-old boy is just one of thousands of children in the UK to have been abused during the pandemic.

Home Office data shows West Mercia Police logged 494 crimes of child cruelty in 2020-21 – up from 376 the year before.

The number of offences logged during that time was around five times higher than the 103 recorded in 2012-13, when records began.

Across England and Wales, child cruelty offences leapt by 12 per cent to a record 25,000 last year, despite authorities struggling to identify some of those at risk amid national lockdowns and school closures.

Nationally, offences have almost quadrupled since 2012-13, with forces recording more than 130,000 crimes in less than a decade.

Of those, 2,453 were logged by West Mercia Police.

The Government said the dramatic national increase in offences is likely to have been driven by improvements in recording, rather than in instances of child cruelty.

Bosses at West Mercia Police say the increase is down to improvements in training.

Det Supt Jon Roberts, vulnerability lead at the police force, said: “We take all reports of child cruelty extremely seriously and have officers with specialist training to deal with incidents of this nature.

"As a force we continue to work closely with our local partners to ensure early intervention and protection for the most vulnerable members of our communities, especially children.

“The increase in the number of cases logged in 2020-2021 is largely due to improvements in training, which has ensured improved awareness and recording processes for crimes relating to child cruelty.”

However, the National Police Chiefs' Council and children's charity the NSPCC believe there is more to be done to protect children.

Pierre Hyman, senior policy officer at the NSPCC, called for Government investment to strengthen safeguarding and ensure authorities work together to tackle the issue.

He added: "To see year after year the number of child cruelty offences rise so dramatically is concerning, particularly following the tragic case of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

"We have similarly seen a rise in calls to our helpline around child abuse and neglect.

"We need political leadership on ensuring child abuse victims are supported in the criminal justice system."

Separate figures show the majority of the 491 child cruelty cases closed by West Mercia Police last year were never brought before the criminal courts – just 25 (five per cent) resulted in a charge or summons being issued, though some matters may have been addressed in the family courts.

The force transferred 113 cases (23 per cent) to other authorities for further investigation.

Just 1,000 out of more than 24,000 cases closed by police forces nationally last year ended with a charge or summons, the figures show.

And recent Department for Education figures show two-thirds of children looked after by councils across England are in care due to abuse.

At least 387 looked-after children in Telford and Wrekin had suffered abuse or neglect – 91 per cent of those in care in the area as of March.

At least 392 in Shropshire were in the same position – accounting for 78 per cent of those in care in the area.

The National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for child protection, deputy chief constable Ian Critchley, said police worked closely with other authorities to tackle child cruelty but said there were "complex challenges" to overcome.

He added: "We encourage anyone who believes a child is being abused to report their concerns, no matter how small they seem."

A Government spokeswoman said the police were expected to use all powers available to them to investigate and record child abuse.

She said a national review was underway and a targeted inspection was launched following the murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

Last year, the Government provided £11 million to the See, Hear, Respond programme, which aimed to support vulnerable young people during the pandemic. It also made £1.8 million available to the NSPCC to expand and promote its helpline.