This is how many child sexual offenders in Birmingham are women

All but one of the 101 people jailed for child sex offences in Birmingham last year were men.

Exclusive figures obtained by BirminghamLive under the Freedom of Information Act show that 100 men were given custodial sentences at Birmingham Crown Court last year for child sex offences - compared with just one woman.

The figures do not show the number of men and women who received non-custodial sentences for child sexual crimes.

However, separate Ministry of Justice figures show that, nationally, 98 per cent of all sex offenders are men.

Experts said more needed to be done to understand why men were more likely to commit child sexual offences.

The new sentencing data shows 12 of the offenders sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in 2017 were sent to prison for at least 10 years - although there were no life sentences.

A further 20 were given sentences of five to 10 years, while 60 were jailed for one to five years.

The remaining nine were jailed for up to one year.

Child sex offences can include rape, sexual assault, and online sexual communications.

The figures, obtained from the Ministry of Justice, only include people who were convicted of child offences, and sentenced to at least some prison time.

Across England and Wales as a whole, the figures show, 98.5 per cent of the 3,234 people jailed for child sex offences in 2017 were men.

Some 3,186 men were sentenced to jail, compared with 48 women.

Nearly a third of all convicted offenders (1,058) were sentenced to prison for under a year while just 40 were sentenced to life behind bars.

What NSPCC said

Andrew Fellows, public affairs manager for the NSPCC, said: “We need to better understand the reasons adults sexually abuse children, and in particular why men are so far more likely to commit these types of crimes.

“What is clear is the need for us to do everything we can to keep our children safe, which is why the NSPCC is committed to visiting every primary school in the UK every three years with its ‘Speak out Stay safe’ programme, which is specifically designed to encourage children to seek help if they ever feel like something is wrong."

Ministry of Justice response

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “Child sexual abuse is abhorrent and rightly carries tough sentences, including life imprisonment for the worst offenders.

“However, sentencing decisions are for the independent judiciary.”