Shocking new figures have revealed the scale of the problem facing police investigating grooming cases in Staffordshire and Derbyshire over the last five years - amid calls for regulation to curb the "Wild West Web."
From April 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017, police in England and Wales recorded a total of 6,341 grooming offences. During that period, Staffordshire Police recorded 91 grooming offences and Derbyshire Police recorded 136.
There were a total of 2,996 grooming crimes recorded across England and Wales from April to December 2017, with the figures including the new offence of Sexual Communication with a Child brought into force in April 2017, as well as offences for Meeting a Child After Grooming.
In Staffordshire, there were 61 grooming crimes reported from April to December 2017, and 47 in Derbyshire.
The statistics were revealed after four Burton men who sexually exploited young girls to satisfy their own adolescent lust were sent to a young offenders' institute for a total of 17 years.
They abused five girls who were aged just 13 and 14 at the time, Stafford Crown Court heard. The four men had pleaded guilty to a total of 22 offences at a previous court hearing in February.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children's #WildWestWeb campaign is now calling on Culture Secretary Matt Hancock to bring in a mandatory safety code to regulate social networks to keep children safe online and help prevent grooming.
Mr Hancock is in the process of drawing up an Internet Safety Strategy, but it is expected to bring in a social media safety code which is voluntary in nature and the Strategy will include no plans to prevent grooming.
Last week the charity revealed that Facebook and Facebook-owned apps, Instagram and Whatsapp, were used in 52 per cent of online grooming cases where police disclosed which methods were used by suspects.
The youngest child to be targeted in the first nine months of the new offence of Sexual Communication with a Child, was just two years old.
Tony Stower, NSPCC head of Child Safety Online said, said: "These thousands of crimes show the sheer scale of grooming, where predators have either messaged their victim or gone on to meet them in person.
"At present our Government is only prepared to tackle grooming after the harm has been done, and its forthcoming Internet Safety Strategy has no plans to prevent grooming from happening in the first place.
"Culture Secretary Matt Hancock could change this and bring an end to the Wild West Web. I urge him to bring in regulation for social networks, backed by an independent regulator with teeth."
Detective inspector Simon Caton from the Staffordshire Police Child Sexual Exploitation Team and Operation Safenet, said: "While we fully understand that the report of increases in grooming cases is a very emotive subject, I would reinforce the message that any member of the public who has information about an individual who could be a risk to children should report the matter directly to the Police.
"This enables us to investigate the concerns fully, safeguard children and bring offenders to justice.
"We work closely with partner agencies in a co-ordinated response to ensure that any child at risk can be appropriately safeguarded, this is something that in our experience vigilante or paedophile hunting groups do not do.
"Staffordshire Police has both a dedicated online child sexual exploitation investigation team in Operation Safenet and also a regular CSE team that deals with a variety of concerns including grooming, often referred to as 'on street' grooming, or CSE.
"Our teams are made up of experienced and specially trained detectives who are committed to both dealing with issues referred to them and also developing, proactively, methods to disrupt and identify those who would seek to sexually exploit or abuse children."
Those who think they may be concerned about child grooming are being urged to contact the NSPCC on 020 7825 2500.
