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The bombshell police report compiled by the Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Sharon Rowe, for Birmingham Community Safety Partnership also acknowledges female genital mutilation (FGM) remains ‘largely hidden’ from criminal justice agencies and says, in Birmingham, the number of babies born to mothers from communities affected by this practice is growing.

Data from Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust suggests that seven per cent of all live births in 2008 were from women who had undergone FGM, affecting an estimated 400 Somali women alone.

And in 2010 Birmingham Children’s Safeguarding Board said up to 900 female children in the city’s schools were at risk of becoming victims.

Key risk ages are at birth, four to six-year-olds and during puberty.

Yet the report to Birmingham Community Safety Partnership states West Midlands Police has recorded just one crime and 15 ‘non’ crimes in relation to FGM since records began.

It said: “This provides some perspective of the difficulty in identifying victims; with most procedures taking place abroad and the victims predominantly of an

age where they would not question a parent’s authority, the avenues for investigation are often limited to partner agencies identifying potential victims from their behaviour.”

“The numbers of babies born to mothers mutilated in this way continues to rise across the city,” the report added.

“Maternity services reported many cases where women did not realise they had suffered FGM and only found out during childbirth.”





** Forced marriages in Birmingham have rocketed by almost 400 per cent in the last year, the report has revealed.**



**Risk of death rising for Birmingham's victims of domestic violence**