High-profile allegations of historic sex crimes are contributing to a steep rise in offences being reported in Canterbury, police claim.

Officers say accusations such as those against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein are a factor in the 47% hike in the number of sexual crimes recorded in the last year.

A total of 680 were reported across the district between July 2017 and June 2018 - the highest figure in 15 years - compared to 462 in the previous 12 months.

Chief Inspector Mark Weller said: "I can say that in recent years we have seen increased victim confidence in reporting sexual offences, including non-recent incidents which has contributed to this increase.

"High-profile stories in the media nationally have raised awareness of these crime types and mean people are more likely to recognise that they are a victim and report such offences in the knowledge that their allegations will be taken seriously."

A charity which offers counselling and other help to survivors of crimes like rape and child abuse says that with "less stigma" it has been seeing a similar increase in demand for its services.

Kate Seymour, the director of the East Kent Rape Crisis Centre, said: "We have seen referrals to us rise by about 15% every year for the last eight years, basically ever since Jimmy Savile.

"Ten years ago, we were seeing about five clients a week for counselling. We now see 200.

"People are without a doubt much more inclined to report sexual offences to police these days. I think the reasons for that are many-fold.

"There's not the same stigma attached that there used to be.

"There obviously is still stigma, particularly when it comes to male rape, but in general, there's not so much victim-blaming as there used to be.

"An awful lot of the reports are historic. People are coming to us and saying this happened to me 30 years ago, sometimes it can be 50 years ago.

"Because there's so much media coverage and so many images on TV, and in the newspapers, victims are finding it hard to keep things under wraps the way they used to.

"They used to keep things bottled up and child sexual abuse was never discussed. It was hidden away, but now you can't get away from it."

While cautiously welcoming the increase in women and men disclosing sexual crimes, Ms Seymour says more funding is needed for support such as counselling, particularly because recounting a crime after many years can often re-traumatise a victim.

"It has a huge impact on somebody's life. It can lead to all sorts of things, like family difficulties, relationship difficulties, parenting difficulties, alcohol abuse and drug abuse," she said.

"The list is endless."

"Victims need specialist help, and it needs to be fairly immediate.

"If somebody has plucked up the courage to come forward and report historic abuse or historic rape, they need seeing quickly.

"They have had that packed away for a long, long time and if they have then got to go on a waiting list that is six or nine months long, that's like a second crisis point."

Crime as a whole has increased by a third in Canterbury over the same period, with data from the Office for National Statistics showing there were 16,154 offences - 33% higher than in 2016-17.

They include one murder, three cases of death or injury by dangerous driving and 698 residential burglaries.

Police say, however, that this is in large part due to recording changes which mean multiple crimes linked to a single incident are now logged.

Drugs-related offences rose by 28%, while the number of people caught with guns, knives and other weapons increased by 41%.

Inspector Weller continued: “All crime types have experienced an increase in the last 12 months across the county, to the end of June 2018.

"This is compared to the previous 12-month period and Canterbury is certainly no exception.

“Whilst these figures may look concerning, a large proportion of the increase is due to changes in crime recording.

“This being said, we are not complacent about any crime rises, even if analysis suggests changes to recording and reporting are behind the figures.

“We have 34 new officers about to start their duties in Kent as part of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s funding proposals to recruit a further 200 officers.

"This will strengthen the force’s capability to tackle crime wherever it occurs across the county."