THE number of internet sites showing the worst forms of child sex abuse has quadrupled in three years, according to a new report.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said 29 per cent of web pages reported to it last year showed extreme child abuse, compared with only 7 per cent in 2003.
The IWF, which is funded by the telecoms industry, said reports of child sex images on t
he internet rose by 34 per cent to nearly 32,000. Of these, the group found 10,656 web pages across 3,077 sites contained illegal child abuse content.
The figures appear to show the severity of online child abuse content is increasing. In 2004, 624 reports showed what is termed "level-four child abuse" and 117 depicted the most extreme, level-five, abuse. Last year, there were 2,690 level-four pages and 352 at level five.
The IWF's annual report said a number of illegal sites had avoided closure by hopping servers across different legal jurisdictions - one site has been reported 224 times since 2002.
Peter Robbins, the IWF's chief executive, said: "Sadly, we have to report new trends regarding the young age of the child victims in the images we assess and the dreadful severity of abuse they are suffering.
"These facts, coupled with the longevity of some commercial websites, mean the victims' abuse can be perpetuated for many years as the images are repeatedly viewed.
"The increase in reports processed by our hotline team is due in part to the increased awareness of our organisation but also to the identification of a growing trend in the use of remote image storage facilities."
He added: "The UK has virtually eradicated the hosting of potentially illegal online child abuse content within its virtual borders."
More than 80 per cent of child sex abuse sites are hosted in the United States and Russia.
Vernon Coaker, a Home Office minister, said that, behind the "deplorable trends in the sexual exploitation of children via new technologies" there was a UK success story.
"The IWF has made dramatic progress in tackling the availability of illegal images of child abuse and has made a significant and ongoing contribution to the eradication of exploitation sites hosted in the UK, and the prevention of access to sites hosted abroad," he said.
