The figure has been come from Freedom of Information requests which were sent to police services in England and Wales by the NSPCC.
It is feared the true figure will be even higher, as only 34 police services supplied their data.
The NSPCC says technology and easy access to sexual material is “warping” young people’s views of what is normal behaviour.
The offences were all reported between 2009 and 2012 and the figures show that
98 per cent of the offenders were male and in more than three out of five cases the victims knew their abuser.
Claire Lilley, policy advisor at the NSPCC, said: “We hope our findings will ring alarm bells with the authorities that this is a problem which needs urgent attention.
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