West Midlands Police target female genital mutilation

West Midlands Police have launched a poster campaign to raise awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The force said it had seen a big rise in reports of the "horrific" crime in the last two years, particularly in Birmingham and Coventry.

Despite that, police said they believed the crime was "massively underreported" and hoped a poster campaign would encourage other victims to come forward.

Sometimes called female circumcision, West Midlands Police said the procedure was sometimes performed on women during pregnancy, before marriage, or even as newborn babies.

Det Supt Tim Bacon said hundreds of women in the area could be victims.