Online grooming crimes in Scotland were more than 30 per cent higher while children were not at school during the coronavirus pandemic compared with the same months last year, the NSPCC has revealed.
The new data shows Police Scotland recorded 268 offences of communicating indecently with a child from April 1 to July 31 this year compared to 203 crimes in the same period last year, with the true scale of the problem likely to be much higher.
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With children spending more time at home and online due to restrictions the NSPCC believes that the risk of online abuse will continue to spike.
The charity is now calling for the UK Government to bring forward tough online harms legislation that combats such crime.
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