CRIME experts gathered for the biggest conference ever held at Huddersfield University.

About 500 delegates from all over the world came to the British Society of Criminology Conference, which ended on Friday.

More than 350 papers were presented on all aspects of criminology, including crime prevention, policing and prisons, surveillance, anti-social behaviour and counter-terrorism.

Among the speakers was child protection expert Bernard Gallagher, a senior research fellow at the university.

He presented two papers, one on international and internet child sex abuse and another on sex abuse and abduction of children by strangers.

Mr Gallagher said his research into the issue of internet abuse had revealed a disturbing new trend.

He said: “Offenders are now going on the internet to incite each other or conspire with each other to commit abuse.

“It’s a relatively new phenomenon and this is the first research paper on it.”

Mr Gallagher’s research about abuse by strangers found 7% of children had been affected.

He said: “We need to keep this problem in perspective. It’s a small minority of children, but it’s not to be sniffed at.

“Three-quarters of the children we spoke to in a survey said they were very frightened or quite frightened by the issue.”

The work will influence future strategies on crime prevention.