A CONTINUED rise in sex offences against children in Worcestershire is a “real concern” and more needs to be done to protect vulnerable youngsters, a charity has said.

West Mercia Police recorded 516 offences against children in 2009/10 including rape, incest and gross indecency.

Most incidents involved children aged 12-15 with 96 aged 11 or under and 14 victims under the age of four.

Of the known suspects in each case 33 were under 18.

There were 488 cases in 2007/8 and 498 in 2008/9 in total across the West Mercia force area.

Sandra Lescott-Robinson, NSPCC head of region for the West Midlands, said: “Thousands come forward every year to report sex crimes against children. But many victims are too young to ask for help.

"The rise in recorded sex offences against children is a real concern. It’s clear we need more services that address harmful sexual behaviour.”

The charity used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain data from all 43 police forces in England and Wales.

There has been a rise in the number of recorded offences nationally from 20,698 in 2007-08 to 21,618 in 2008-09 and 23,390 in 2009-10.

The latest figure shows a child sex crime happens every 20 minutes.

Girls are about six times more likely to be sexually assaulted than boys, with more than 20,000 (86 per cent) female victims.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said they are committed to bringing child sex offenders to justice.

She said: “We want all victims to have the confidence to come forward and report crimes. We have specially trained officers who can deal sensitively with anyone who is brave enough to talk to us.

"We work in partnership with organisations such as NSPCC to raise awareness of these terrible offences.”

Visit the advice centre at westmercia.police.uk

The NSPCC Helpline is on 0808 800 5000 or text 88858.

ChildLine is on 0800 1111 or visit childline.org.uk