Up to 850,000 predators in Britain pose a sexual risk to children, National Crime Agency director warns

Up to 850,000 predators in Britain pose a sexual risk to children, National Crime Agency director warns

As many as 850,000 predators in Britain pose a sexual risk to children, a National Crime Agency (NCA) chief warned today.

More than 800 offenders are arrested each month but that is ‘barely scratching’ the numbers and technology firms need to work harder to report abuse and clamp down on predators, Chris Farrimond said.

The NCA’s director of threat leadership said it can take just three clicks for paedophiles to access child abuse online.

And he warned that even if children are kept away from the darker corners of the internet they would not be safe, as predators would seek victims on ‘any part of the open web where these people can find children.’

Mr Farrimond’s chilling warning comes as a cyber security expert who blackmailed girls as young as 12 into becoming his sex slaves was jailed for 26 years.

Jordan Croft, 26, admitted forcing 26 victims, all but two of whom were children, to send humiliating pictures and videos of themselves performing sexual and degrading acts.

He sought out girls through online chat platforms – contacting 5,000 people on one platform alone – and used sophisticated methods to cover his tracks.

After persuading his victims to send one nude photo, Croft would then blackmail them into sending him increasingly depraved images of themselves.

He tormented the children round the clock and even made some send him their school timetable so he knew where they would be at all times.

Croft forced one victim to drink her own urine, and even made another sexually abuse her seven-year-old siblings.

He was given 18 years in prison and a further eight on licence at Lewes Crown Court today.

‘At the moment we think there is somewhere between 550,000 to 850,000 people in the UK who pose varying degrees of sexual risk to children,’ Mr Farrimond said.

‘That’s right across the spectrum, but it’s a huge number including contact offending and online defence in all its forms.

‘Technology has brought massive, massive benefits to the world to the UK to individuals but at the other end of the scale it really assists offenders who have a sexual interest in children, helping them to perpetuate abuse.’

In the 12 months to March this year, the NCA and UK police forces made a record 10,181 arrests and voluntary attendances, up eight per cent on the previous year.

About 14,500 children were safeguarded in the process – a 15 per cent increase.

‘But looking at the figures, that is just scratching it,’ Mr Farrimond said.

‘You’ve heard the phrase before “we can’t arrest our way out of this”.

‘There are too many out there.

‘It’s not possible to take policing action, law enforcement action, against every single one of them at the same time.’

The ease with which paedophiles like Croft can access content and speak with other likeminded offenders increases the number of people who then begin to pose a risk to children, Mr Farrimond said.