The Aporia · Police receive reports of child rape at schools in England and Wales every single day, horrifying figures reveal - with 8,500 sexual offences against children under 13 logged in five years

Police receive reports of child rape at schools in England and Wales every single day, horrifying figures reveal - with 8,500 sexual offences against children under 13 logged in five years

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Midlane, T. (2026, October 4). Police receive reports of child rape at schools in England and Wales every single day, horrifying figures reveal - with 8,500 sexual offences against children under 13 logged in five years. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16182261/police-reports-child-rape-schools-England-Wales-8500-sexual-offences-against-children-13-logged-five-years.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

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Quick Summary

A recent investigation reveals that police in England and Wales receive reports of nearly five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger daily, with at least 8,500 such offenses logged between 2021 and 2025. This includes over 2,000 alleged rapes and attempted rapes, amounting to one each day on average. The figures also show that more than a third of rape victims were under 13, with perpetrators often being fellow pupils.

Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Lawyers and campaigners condemned the "horrifying" scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in English and Welsh schools after a Guardian investigation revealed that nearly five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger were reported to police every day between 2021 and 2025. The data, obtained through freedom of information requests from 43 police forces across England and Wales, showed at least 8,500 sexual offences against under-13s were recorded over the five-year period, equivalent to 4.7 daily reports. More than one in three rape victims among these cases were under 13 years old. The majority of reported crimes involved peers as perpetrators, with an estimated 1,890 offenders being under 18. Child protection advocates and the Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, highlighted that while progress has been made in addressing such issues, more significant action is needed to tackle this widespread problem.

Written for “Child Sexual Offences in Schools Engl…” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

Thousands of child-on-child sexual offences reported at schools in England and Wales Same event

The Guardian

Hedges 6 of 39 claims Outlet record 66/100

Labour accused of a 'betrayal of rape gang victims' by stalling new laws for harsher sentences to free up prison space Different event

Daily Mail

Hedges 1 of 23 claims Outlet record 68/100

“The articles discuss different aspects of child sexual offenses and legislation, not the same specific incident.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Leans left

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

68/100

Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 8698 article(s) · 21 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 21 correction(s)

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Clarifications and corrections

Who wrote this

Tom Midlane

14 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

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Also by Tom Midlane

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 14 articles by Tom Midlane →

Topics

England Guardian Wales the Online Safety Act

Subjects

England GPE · 4× Wales GPE · 3× Guardian ORG · 1× Rachel de Souza PERSON · 1×

Narrative

On average police received reports of nearly five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger every single day (stock photo) The Guardian reported that aside from rape and attempted rape, the data also includes reports of an additional 6,140 crimes that involve the possession, taking, making or distribution of indecent or prohibited images of children under 18.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04

2026-10-04 · Daily Mail

Police receive reports of child rape at schools in England and Wales every single day, horrifying figures reveal - with 8,500 sexual offences against children under 13 logged in five years · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 1 hedged)

The scale of child-on-child sexual violence in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales has been revealed in a bombshell investigation. asserted

scale → reveal → investigation

On average police received reports of nearly five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger every single day, according to reports. uncertain

police → receive → reports

At least 8,500 sexual offences against children aged 13 or under were logged by police between 2021 and 2025 - the equivalent to 4.7 per day. asserted

offences → age → day

That includes 2,000 alleged rapes and attempted rapes over the same time period, which works out as one rape allegation at a school in England and Wales each day. asserted

which → include → England

The extent of the problem was revealed via a series of freedom of information requests to the 43 police forces across England and Wales, 33 of which responded. asserted

33 → reveal → which

The majority of the police reports did not state the age of the accused but they are most likely to be fellow pupils. asserted

they → state → accused

The Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, said child-on-child sexual abuse in schools was 'widespread, normalised and too often brushed under the carpet'. asserted

abuse → say → carpet

'We have taken important steps in the last few years,' she said. asserted

she → take → years

'But as these figures show we have a long way to go. asserted

we → show → way

that → receive → 18

The newspaper also reported that in at least 1,890 of the reported sexual offences committed against victims against under-13s, the perpetrator was described as under 18. asserted

perpetrator → report → 18

Girls were also predominantly the victims in the cases in which gender was specified, with nearly two out of three of the sexual crimes against under-13s committed against females. asserted

three → specify → females

A government spokesperson called the figures 'appalling' and pointed to schools' statutory duty to respond to sexual violence and harassment. asserted

spokesperson → call → violence

They added: 'No child should be unsafe at school, and no child should have to carry this alone. asserted

child → add → this

That is why schools' duty to respond to sexual violence and harassment is now statutory, and why staff are trained to spot concerns early and support victims. asserted

staff → respond → victims

'As part of our strategy to halve violence against women and girls, we have pledged to make sure all young people are taught about healthy relationships and consent from an early age – and we've forced tech companies to tackle harmful content and protect young people online through the Online Safety Act.' asserted

we → halve → Act