REPORTS of children sexually abusing other kids DOUBLED in just a year, new figures show.

       In 2017 police saw 8,000 reports of abuse - but this soared to a yearly figure between 15,000 and 16,000.

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       Child-on-child sexual abuse doubled in just one year Credit: Getty

       The shocking statistics, obtained by BBC Panorama, show the number of sexual offences in under-18s from 31 police forces in England and Wales.

       They include rape and sexual assault where both the victim and alleged offender were under age.

       In nearly 10 per cent of the cases the alleged perpetrator was under the age of 10.

       And in roughly nine out of 10 cases the alleged abusers were boys.

       The figures show that between April 2016 and March 2017 cops received 7,866 reports.

       By 2018-2019 this had skyrocketed to 16,102.

       However the most up to date stats, taken from 2020-2021, show abuse cases fell to 10,861 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

       One childhood assault victim told the investigative TV show how she was abused by a boy from her school at the age of 12.

       Danielle, not her real name, told the program: "Every time we met he groped me and touched me up.

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       “He would ask if we could have sex, and I would always say no, but he would just end up just touching me anyway.

       "We were walking up the stairs at one point and he grabbed up my skirt and it really made me upset. I started crying at that point, I think it felt like I had no space."

       The schoolgirl bottled up what was happening and did not tell anyone of the sexual assualts.

       She said: "I thought that I would get in trouble.

       “I just thought I was the one to blame, they would just get very angry with me and they wouldn't understand.”

       She explained how when she eventually told teachers, she was told: “Oh you know, just talk about your feelings and just work things out between you two."

       Labour MP and former teacher, Emma Hardy, said: "I still think that those figures might be an underestimation of the extent of the problem, because not all cases ended up going to the police. Not all things are reported."

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