The NSPCC is calling for urgent action to stamp out the illegal trade in child abuse images after figures revealed that 90 arrests were made by Wiltshire Police last year.
In response to a Freedom Of Information request Wiltshire Police said it would take too long to interrogate files to see how many pictures of children being sexually abused they had accumulated during investigations.
In 1990, the Home Office estimated there were just 7,000 hard copy images in circulation in the UK.
Now, at least five times that is being confiscated every day.
The FoI reveals 90 people were arrested last year by Wiltshire Police for taking, possessing or distributing indecent images of children.
Since 1995 the number of people convicted in England and Wales has risen more than 1,700 per cent from 85 to 1,495 last year.
The pictures are graded from level one – the lowest– to five, which involves sadism.
Sharon Copsey, the NSPCC’s regional head of service for the south west, said: “The truly awful thing is that more and more children are being abused so these pictures can be produced.
“The authorities are working hard to clamp down on this but there are still far too many pictures available.
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