More Than 2,000 Children Reported For Indecent Image Crimes

The NSPCC is urging parents to talk to their children about the risks of sharing nude pictures with others.

The call comes as new figures show more than 2,000 under-18s have been reported to police over the past three years for crimes linked to indecent images.

According to the children's charity, the increase in offences among youngsters may have partly been fuelled by "sexting", where someone sends an explicit photograph of themselves to another person on social media.

In one instance, a 14-year-old boy was added to a police database after he sent a naked image of himself to a schoolgirl on Snapchat.

A recent survey suggests only half of parents know it is a crime for children to take nude selfies.

Some have called for the rules of recording crime to be adapted to ensure children are not routinely criminalised for sexting.

The NSPCC is calling for new solutions to get nude selfies of young people taken off the internet more easily, as the images can often end up in the hands of paedophiles.

It added that young people found with child abuse images may be among the total of 2,031 under-18s reported for the possession, distribution or production of indecent images of children in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Across all age groups, the number of such offences has more than doubled in two years - soaring from 4,530 in 2013 to 10,818 in 2015.

The charity said the increase shows "demand for this sickening material is still growing" - and warns "the war on child abuse images is only beginning".

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless added: "Over the last two decades, digital technology has fuelled an explosion in the production and consumption of child sexual abuse images that increasingly involves the streaming of live video.

"As well as pursuing and deterring adults who make and distribute these we must educate children about how to keep themselves safe online and offline and how to get help as soon as grooming or abuse happens."