Children as young as nine are being targeted by groomers - as it's revealed Kent has one of the worst problems in the region.

It comes after the NSPCC charity asked Kent Police about the number of child grooming crimes recorded in the county in the six months after a new law was introduced in April 2017.

Some 71 offences were recorded in the area between April and October which were described as "sexual communication with a child".

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In England and Wales 1,316 breaches of the new law were recorded in the same time period.

Data gathered from a Freedom of Information request by the charity found girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were most likely to be targeted by predators.

And the youngest victims in Kent were nine years old.

It has also been revealed Instagram was the most common method for predators to get in touch with youngsters.

NSPCC's head of child safety online, Tony Stower, said: "Despite the staggering number of grooming offences in just six months, government and social networks are not properly working together and using all the tools available to stop this crime from happening.

"Government's Internet Safety Strategy must require social networks to build in technology to keep their young users safe, rather than relying on police to step in once harm has already been done.

"If government makes a code for social networks that is entirely optional and includes no requirement for platforms to tackle grooming, this is a massive missed opportunity and children will continue to be put at risk."

The organisation is calling on companies to develop algorithms which automatically pick up language that might be used to groom children.

Officers at Kent Police say they have a whole unit to deal with the problem.

"Internet Safety Strategy must require social networks to build in technology to keep their young users safe" - Tony Stower

Detective Inspector Rob Chitham from the force's paedophile online investigation team said: "Kent Police has dedicated a significant amount of resources to help keep children safe online, a matter that is a top priority for the force.

"Specialist units proactively target offenders who are looking to abuse childrem including the paedophile online investigation team, which has specialist grooming and victim identification teams, and the child sexual exploitation team.

"We also invest in programmes to educate children about online risks, including 'Chelsea's Choice' - a drama production which visits schools to educate children about grooming.

"Our officers also run the 'is it worth it' campaign, which sees us visit schools throughout the county to warn pupils about grooming and sharing intimate photographs.

LISTEN: NSPCC calls for better online security for youngsters

"The chances of a child meeting someone they've met online are thankfully very low but we will continue to look for innovative ways to protect children from those seeking to do them harm.

"If anyone is concerned about a child being groomed, they should contact us on 101 so we can arrange the necessary safeguarding and take enforcement action."

Kent had the highest number of incidents in the south east of England, followed by Hampshire with 62, Thames Valley with 37, Sussex with 33 and Surrey with 5 offences recorded.

The Metropolitan Police and City of London Police did not provide information on how many offences they dealt with.