"As a society, we find women sex offenders difficult to acknowledge.
But those of us who work with paedophiles have seen evidence that women
are capable of terrible crimes against children – just as bad as men."
He said some female abusers remained hidden because they appeared
before the family courts, where their cases were not publicised because
of reporting restrictions.

The latest government figures,
published six months ago, showed that 56 female child sex abusers were
in custody, with 49 sentenced and seven on remand. Another 84 were
under supervision in the community. Fewer than 2% of people on the sex
offenders register are women.

Officials at the g...

read more»

"As a society, we find women sex offenders difficult to acknowledge.
But those of us who work with paedophiles have seen evidence that women
are capable of terrible crimes against children – just as bad as men."
He said some female abusers remained hidden because they appeared
before the family courts, where their cases were not publicised because
of reporting restrictions.

The latest government figures,
published six months ago, showed that 56 female child sex abusers were
in custody, with 49 sentenced and seven on remand. Another 84 were
under supervision in the community. Fewer than 2% of people on the sex
offenders register are women.

Officials at the government's Child
Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said under-reporting
of incidents involving female abusers was a concern and warned that
"copycat" abusers may attempt to replicate the abuse that took place at
Plymouth's Little Ted's nursery, where George worked.

George,
Allen and Blanchard, all 39, met through the networking site Facebook.
Officials at the CEOP and at Scotland Yard believe that the internet is
driving an increase in the number of sex abusers of children. However,
while offences are on the rise, police say that they have detected no
changes in the patterns of abuse that are carried out by paedophiles,
whether men or women.