Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Vikram Dodd

Children now ‘biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against children’

A boy looks at the screen of a smartphone.
Ian Critchley, the NPCC lead for child protection, said sexual offences were predominantly committed by boys against girls, ‘exacerbated by the accessibility of violent pornography’ on smartphones. Photograph: sankai/Getty Images

Boys are watching violent porn on their smartphones then going on to attack girls, police have said, as new data showed children are now the biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against other children.

Police data shows there has been a quadrupling of sexual offences against children, in what officers say is the most authoritative analysis of offending against youngsters.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.