Over a quarter of paedophiles in Hampshire related to victim (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Over a quarter of paedophiles in Hampshire related to victim

2:00pm Monday 3rd September 2012 in Local

OVER a quarter of all sexual assaults against children in Hampshire are committed by relatives, new figures show.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has found 27 per cent of sex offenders in Hampshire are related to their victims, with more than seven out of 10 reported cases of sexual assaults against children being committed by someone the victim knows.

The research revealed that only seven per cent of sexual assaults were committed by a complete stranger. The Government is now being urged by the NSPCC to publish this information and increase the public awareness that most instances of child abuse occur at home and not with grooming gangs.

With this increased understanding, it hopes that more data on the widespread causes of child abuse can be gathered. Julie Cole, NSPCC regional head of service for South London and the South East, said: “There is sometimes the perception that child sex offenders are strangers. But the reality is that most victims know their abusers.

“Many of the victims are threatened or intimidated into silence with some thinking no one will believe them or that their revelations will break up their family. Understandably, it takes a lot of courage for a child to talk about such awful events.”