Government figures also show that 30 per cent of offenders have had at least 10 child victims. Experts believe the average paedophile would have abused 200 children before ever being prosecuted. Between five and nine children are abducted and killed each year. The grief and despair touches every area of the country. 21,000 are in their 30s and 79,000 over 40.
Many paedophiles fall into a cycle of offending which becomes increasingly serious and frequent.
The number of convictions for gross indecency with a child doubled between 1985 and 1995, from 633 to 1,287. Adolescents make up one third of all child sex crime. This means there are around 35,000 teenagers in Britain who have committed a sexual offence against a child. Because abuse is a persistent crime, many of these youngsters will turn into adult abusers. According to a Home Office survey around one in 60 men born in 1953 had a conviction for some type of sexual offence by the time they were 40.