POLICE have received 88 reports of a child being abducted in Bradford over the last four years - with the youngest child aged two-years-old.

There were 220 reports across West Yorkshire between 2015 and 2018 but only seven people have been charged for offences in Bradford.

The figures revealed a three-year-old and a two-year-old were both reported missing at the same time in July 2017 but no charges were ever brought against the alleged abductor.

One campaign group labelled the figures "worrying", however, they pointed out there are often several reasons why a child is reported as abduction.

READ MORE: The Broadway abduction never happened

Bradford has seen a range of examples in recent years, including incidents where panic-stricken parents have phoned 999 to report their child missing after a family argument or custody battle, fabricated abductions and genuine cases where horrific crimes have been committed.

Geoff Newiss, director of the Action Against Abduction campaign group, said: "It is worrying to see just how many offences of child abduction are recorded by the police, but we should remember the figures cover a broad range of circumstances from parental to stranger abduction.

"In some cases the high numbers reflect better police recording of offences, and in this respect it is a good thing that the police are capturing a fuller picture of what is happening.

"Our uppermost concern is that schools, parents and indeed the police need to be giving children the right information to keep themselves safe.

"Our Clever Never Goes" programme offers a new approach with free resources available online."

One of the most serious cases from the last four years include the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl from Bradford

Depraved Ibrahim Hussain, 35, was on bail for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in his BMW car when he abducted the school girl from Horton Park in July 2017.

Hussain, of Woodcross Court, in Little Horton, was locked up for 23 years after Bradford Crown Court heard how he took the schoolgirl to an address in the city and raped her twice before moving her to a flat in Leeds where five men had sex with her.

A Bradford mother of two was jailed for more than five years in January 2016 after she tried to take her children to Syria to live under Islamic State control.

The 34-year-old wished to live under strict Sharia law and believed such a regime could only be found where IS imposed control, Leeds Crown Court heard.

And in December last year a Facebook post claiming someone had tried to abduct a three-year-old girl in the Broadway Shopping Centre was proven to have been fabricated.

The post was widely shared on social media and made up a story about a man who was talking on his mobile phone in “a foreign language” when he tried to take a girl by the hand.

Detective Superintendent Simon Bottomley, of Bradford District Police, said: “A report of an abduction is an extremely serious matter, and when we receive reports of this nature, resources will be immediately deployed to find the person at the centre of the report.

“It is also worth noting the overwhelming majority of reports of abductions we receive are linked to family or custody issues, involving people the child knows, or are involving missing children.

“Children being randomly abducted – as a member of the public would regard an abduction – are extremely rare.

“The vast majority of the reports included in these specific figures are children who have been reported as missing. They all returned to their home address either on their accord or as a result of police enquiries.

“If a child or young person has been reported as missing and is subsequently found by officers with someone who is not their legal guardian, this can be classed as an abduction.”