THERE were 109 incidents of possession of indecent images of children in Gwent in 2015, new figures have revealed.

A Freedom of Information request by children’s charity the NSPCC has shown there were 1,321 such crimes in Wales between 2013 and 2015, with the number increasing sharply from 201 in 2013 to 738 in 2015.

South Wales Police recorded the greatest number of these at 480, followed by Dyfed Powys Police with 412, North Wales Police with 320. Although Gwent Police appears to be the lowest at 109 the force was only able to provide statistics for 2015.

Head of service for the NSPCC in Wales Des Mannion called for police and other responsible organisations to focus more resources on tackling the issue.

“We want to see companies who operate online to prioritise this issue by committing significant expertise and resources to preventing the publication and distribution of these images,” he said.

“Social network providers and other technology platforms must realise that they are the key enablers of online child sexual abuse and make a serious commitment to tackling it.”

The figures also showed 12 of the suspects investigated in Gwent were aged younger than 18, along with 74 in North Wales, leading the NSPCC to raise concerns young people ‘sexting’ – sharing sexually explicit pictures of themselves via mobile phone or social media – may be falling foul of the law.

Mr Mannion called the issue “alarming”.

“Children need to be taught about the dangers of sending sexual pictures of themselves so they don’t find themselves at risk of harm and abuse,” he said.

“Young people who are caught ‘sexting’ put themselves at risk of sexual exploitation, grooming and cyber bullying, whilst they could also face the prospect of a criminal record if they are reported to police.”

According to recent research carried out by the NSPCC only half of parents know under-18s taking and sending naked pictures of themselves is illegal, while two out of five are concerned their children might be involved in ‘sexting’ but had not spoken to them about the risks.

None of the incidents in South Wales or Dyfed Powys involved suspects aged younger than 18.

Gwent Police Detective Superintendent Roger Fortey said: "The safeguarding of young people is a key priority for Gwent Police.

"There have been year on year increases in reports nationally from online companies of people accessing indecent images of children.
"Accessing explicit images of children is not a victimless crime, it depicts the worst possible forms of child abuse.
"As a police force we are responding to this rise by searching more addresses, arresting more offenders and safeguarding more children.

"The investigation of offences of this nature is taken extremely seriously. We have specialist officers who are professionally trained to deal with victims and bring offenders to justice.

"Here in Gwent we run a series of school-based lessons via the All Wales School Liaison Core Programme to ensure that young people have access to information about how to stay safe when using the internet.

"This includes in-depth discussions around online grooming, sexual exploitation and the taking and sharing of private photographs.

"In 2014/2015, Gwent Police delivered 1874 lessons, to just under 50,000 pupils with more continuing throughout 2016.

"We also work closely with support services such as Connect Gwent and our partner agencies, to ensure that anyone who falls victim to this type of crime has the right safeguarding they need."

The NSPCC has launched a dedicated online safety advice line which can be used by both adults and children. It can be contacted on 0808 800 5002.

Anyone concerned indecent images of children are being shared can contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.

Information can also be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org.