SOCIAL media platforms were used in 27 grooming crimes recorded by Surrey Police in the first year since a new anti-grooming law came into force - with the youngest child targeted in the county aged just eight years old.

According to research by children’s charity the NSPCC, more than 3,000 offences of Sexual Communication with a Child have been recorded in England and Wales since the new legislation was introduced in April 2017.

Alarmingly Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram were used in 70 per cent of the 2,097 cases where police in England and Wales revealed the methods used.

This figure is even higher in Surrey, where Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram were used in 96 per cent of offences in which Surrey Police recorded the methods used.

The NSPCC launched a #WildWestWeb campaign last year to put pressure on the Government and social networks to do more to safeguard children, and responding Digital Secretary Matt Hancock announced that laws will be brought in to regulate social networks, to keep children safe and prevent harms such as grooming.

The charity is now campaigning to ensure those laws are sufficiently robust to prevent grooming and to truly keep children safe, calling on Government to:

• Create mandatory safety rules that social networks are legally required to follow;

• Establish an independent regulator to enforce safety laws and fine non-compliant sites;

• Require social media sites to publish annual safety reports;

•Force platforms to develop technology to detect grooming using algorithms.

The new crime of Sexual Communication with a Child came into force on April 3, 2017 following the NSPCC’s campaign and in the first year a total of 3,171 crimes were recorded by police – amounting to nine grooming offences per day.

Police revealed which methods groomers used in 2,097 instances, and records show Facebook was used in nearly 30 per cent of those cases, while Snapchat and Instagram were each used in around a fifth of cases.

Where police disclosed the gender and age of the victim, girls aged 12 to 15 were recorded as being the victim in 62 per cent of cases. And under-11s were recorded as the victim in nearly a quarter of cases.

Contact offences such as rape and sexual assault were among those recorded in connection with grooming offences.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “These numbers are far higher than we had predicted, and every single sexual message from an adult to a child can have a huge impact for years to come.

“Social networks have been self-regulated for a decade and it’s absolutely clear that children have been harmed as a result.”

For more information about the NSPCC’s campaign and advice, visit www.nspcc.org.uk .