REPORTS of grooming incidents have almost doubled in the last year, with more than 900 cases taking place through Instagram.

Across England and Wales there were 4,373 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded between April 2018 and April 2019, compared with 3,217 in the previous year, NSPCC has revealed.

And 54 of these incidents were recorded by Wiltshire Police between April 2018 and April 2019, compared with 28 in the previous year.

The offence of ‘having sexual communication with a child’ came into force in 2017, and in the last two years nationally, Facebook-owned apps (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp) and Snapchat were used in more than 70 per cent of the instances (2026 cases), where police recorded and provided the communication method.

The number of instances that involved Instagram reported between April 2017 and 2018 was 418, but this year (April 2018 to April 2019) 929 instances were recorded.

Following a Freedom of Information request submitted to police by the children's welfare charity, across 43 police forces one in five victims were aged just 11 or younger.

Detective Sargeant Helen Clarke said Wiltshire Police is committed to protecting children and young people online, and there is a specialist Child Internet Exploitation Team dedicated to dealing with this.

Reacting to the figures she added: “With the rise in popularity of social media sites such as Instagram, we have seen an increase in the number of incidents involving sexual communication with a child. It is becoming increasingly easy for offenders to access children.

“We want to reassure the public that we are doing everything in our power to monitor the internet activity of those suspected of grooming children online and will actively pursue prosecutions against suspects."

Issuing advice on the matter, DS Clarke added: “We would also like to urge parents to be mindful of their children’s use of the internet. Please talk to your children about the dangers of talking to strangers online.

"Be aware of what your child is doing online – ensure profiles are private and they are not accepting friend requests from people they do not know. It may seem like an awkward conversation to have, but it is crucial to ensure young people have the correct safeguarding measures in place and are aware of how to stay safe online."

Peter Wanless, chief executive of NSPCC, said: “It’s now clearer than ever that government has no time to lose in getting tough on these tech firms.

“Despite the huge amount of pressure that social networks have come under to put basic protections in place, children are being groomed and abused on their platforms every single day.

"These figures are yet more evidence that social networks simply won’t act unless they are forced to by law. The government needs to stand firm and bring in regulation without delay.”

In response to the findings, a Facebook company spokesperson said: “There is no place for grooming or child exploitation on our platforms and we use technology to proactively find and quickly remove it. 

"We also investigate reports from the community with a content and security team of over 30,000 people who respond to reports 24/7.”