SEX offences against children in West Yorkshire have increased dramatically, new crime figures show.

Children’s charity the NSPCC said the annual figures, released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, showed there had been a 150 per cent increase in sexual offences and a 122 per cent rise in rapes of children under 16 in West Yorkshire since 2012-13.

An NSPCC spokesman said: “These are grim figures which show that the number of sex offences has more than doubled in the last five years, with a significant number of victims being children. Recent investigations have exposed a dark underbelly of abuse that went on for far too long, with the impact only now becoming tragically clear.

“Sexual abuse has a devastating impact on a child, and we urge all victims to come forward as soon as possible so they can get the support they need and offenders can be brought to justice. Any child who has been a victim can always call Childline on 0800 1111.”

As usual, police recorded crime figures were at odds with those of the Crime Survey for England and Wales, which estimated a six per cent fall in the number of incidents against adults for the year ending March 2016, from 6.8 million to 6.3 million. Conversely, police said they had recorded 4.5 million offences, but said that was an annual rise of eight per cent. They maintained most of the increase was due to improved crime recording practices.

New survey questions showed an estimated 3.8 million offences of fraud and 2 million computer misuse offences.

The crime survey estimated no significant change in levels of violence. But police recorded violence against the person offences increased by 27 per cent.

There were 571 homicides recorded by police, a rate of ten per million of the population, up 34 on the previous year.

The crime survey estimates showed no significant change in the proportion of adults who had been victims of sexual assaults, though police recorded an increase of 21 per cent in sexual offences.

According to police, recorded offences involving the use of knives or sharp instruments increased by ten per cent, while offences involving the use of firearms was up by four per cent.

West Yorkshire Police said total recorded crime had risen by 28.6 per cent in the last 12 months, in the main due to greater compliance with the National Crime Recording Standards. The force said there was only a 4.5 per cent higher risk of becoming a victim of crime, largely because of increases in cyber-enabled offending, vehicle crime and low-level violence without injury.

Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins said: “This increase should be put into context - it is clear that the effect of crime recording changes has had a big impact. I want to reassure our communities that up until 2014/15 crime had fallen in West Yorkshire for 11 consecutive years, and we are now recruiting 600 officers. West Yorkshire Police is committed to keeping communities safe and protecting the most vulnerable.”