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Revealed: the horror of the 5,000 children under 16 raped every year

This article is more than 17 years old

Extraordinary figures showing the extent of the rape of children under 16 are revealed today. They reveal the number of victims is nearly 5,000 a year - yet only 7 per cent of the attackers are convicted.

It is the first time the Home Office has released such statistics because the ages of rape victims were recorded for the first time only in 2004-5. In that period, 974 girls aged under 13 and a further 3,006 under 16 were raped in England and Wales, while 293 boys under 13 and 320 aged under 16 were raped. Only one in 15 assailants - a total of 303 - were found guilty in court. Senior police officers believe actual numbers of rapes may be far higher because many children do not report the crime.

The release of the figures follows news this week that a 15-year-old boy was charged with rape after an 11-year-old girl became pregnant. In law, a child under 13 is deemed incapable of consenting to sex, so any intercourse is classed as rape. The schoolgirl, from West Lothian, who will become Britain's youngest mother when she gives birth next month, fears she will not be allowed to keep her baby. She said to the Scottish Sun: 'I've been told by social workers there's a chance the baby won't come home with me from the hospital. They say our house is too small and needs redecorating. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep my baby.'

Last month another 15-year-old boy admitted raping an 11-year-old in a lavatory at a Sainsbury's supermarket. Sentencing was adjourned until next month for psychiatric reports to be prepared.

The Home Office figures show that girls under 16 made up 31 per cent of the 12,867 females who were raped in 2004-5, while boys of the same age comprised 54 per cent of the 1,135 males raped in the same period.

The figures were obtained by the NSPCC, Britain's biggest children's charity, which will launch a campaign tomorrow with the slogan 'Don't Hide It' to urge young people to report sexual abuse to someone they trust rather than suffer in silence. Evidence collected by ChildLine, the 24-hour telephone advice service that recently merged with the NSPCC, shows that of the 8,637 young people who rang in last year about sexual abuse, 4,414 - just over half - said they had been raped. It was the first time that a majority of calls involved rape. Of those, 842 had been raped by their father, 421 by a stranger and 285 by their boyfriend. Almost all of the remainder were raped by someone they knew. Eighty per cent of the 4,414 reports of rape were made by girls, and 91 per cent of the assailants were men or boys.

'A child calls ChildLine on average once every hour to talk about rape and other types of sexual abuse,' said NSPCC chief executive Mary Marsh. 'Children have phoned in to talk in confidence about having been raped in toilets, phone boxes, cars, bedrooms, bushes and parks.' The NSPCC's belief that there were many more young victims beyond the 4,414 who called ChildLine is backed up by the police. Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Spindler, head of child abuse investigations for the Metropolitan Police, said that, although the force investigated 793 rapes of children in 2005-06, 'we are told by academics that 95 per cent of crimes committed against children don't get reported, so the true figure of rapes and sexual offences could be many times higher.'

Spindler and his team of 600 staff across London have seen the number of 'intra-familial rapes' of under-16s by close relatives, carers and professionals - such as teachers and Scout masters - rise from 282 in 2002-03 to 392 in 2005-06, a jump of 35 per cent.

Officers in Operation Sapphire, the Met squad which investigates rapes, have also seen their caseload grow. Detectives are especially concerned about a rise in the number of attacks on girls under 16 involving more than one male assailant, who are sometimes known to the victim.

The NSPCC's latest campaign will urge sexually abused adolescents to seek help from someone they feel be sure of, ring ChildLine or visit its new website, www.donthideit.com. Advertisements depicting face masks to represent the fact that many, if not most, victims keep quiet about attacks are intended to prompt greater reporting of the crime. At a launch at Parliament of Don't Hide It, the charity will call on the government to provide a more comprehensive network of therapeutic services nationwide so that children who have experienced sexual abuse can get help.

'There are feelings of guilt and shame and fear and not wanting to make the situation worse'

Julia Latcham-Smith, 25, of Bridgend, south Wales, left, was sexually abused for five years by her father, Michael Everson, who is now in prison.

My father began abusing me when I was eight. I immediately told my mother, but she said I was being ridiculous and Dad denied it. I didn't mention it again and kept it to myself.

After that it happened regularly. When I was 10 I told a friend, whose mother alerted the social services. I told them everything. Dad was arrested and questioned by police but the next day I retracted my allegations because I just wanted the whole thing to go away. After that, things got worse. I told social services a second time when I was 13, but again I withdrew my claims. I couldn't cope with the guilt I felt about the upset I'd caused.

I decided to pretend it had never happened and so lived in complete denial for several years. It was only after I got married, told my husband and began having kids of my own - I have two daughters - that I decided to do something.

Dad had unexpectedly confessed to me on the phone once, soon after my wedding. A year later, I bought some tape recording equipment, rang him and got him to confess all over again, then handed the tape to the police. He was convicted at Swansea Crown Court last July of 10 counts of indecent assault, attempted rape and gross indecency. He got eight years.

I wish now that I had stuck to my guns when I was 10. That would have prevented the abuse continuing. But it's incredibly hard for a young person who has been abused to speak out. There are feelings of guilt and shame and fear, and not wanting to make the situation worse or lead to the family being broken up.

I desperately wanted the abuse to stop, but it felt easier to keep my mouth shut.

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