What is female genital mutilation and how can those who care for young children take action if they suspect it of happening? Caroline Vollans reports

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Female genital mutilation (FGM) – the ritual cutting of a girl’s genitalia – has been illegal in the UK since 1985. This does not mean that the practice has stopped. In February this year, a Ugandan mother was the first person to be convicted of this crime at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales. She has been jailed for 11 years for the cutting of her three-year-old daughter.

During the procedure the child bled profusely, and the emergency services had to be called. The hospital alerted police authorities when they did not believe the mother’s story that the child’s injuries had occurred when she had climbed up to a cupboard for a biscuit and fell.

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