Charities have condemned the “shocking” number of children strip searched by the Metropolitan Police without an appropriate adult present.

Data obtained from Scotland Yard by the Children’s Commissioner showed some 650 children aged 10 to 17 were strip-searched by Met officers between 2018 and 2020.

Dame Rachel de Souza, sought out the figures following the Child Q scandal, in which a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Hackney, who was on her period, was strip-searched by police in 2020 after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at school.

Iryna Pona, of The Children’s Society (TCS), said: “We are horrified by the number of children subjected to these searches and it is shocking that nearly a quarter took place without an appropriate adult present.

“Strip searches are intrusive and traumatic, and children are being completely failed if even basic safeguards are not in place.”

The data showed that of the children, 58 per cent were described by the officer as being Black.

A spokesman for London mayor Sadiq Khan said there "remain serious wider issues" about the disproportionate use of stop and search on young Black boys.

They said: “This must change and Sadiq has been absolutely clear with the incoming Metropolitan Police Commissioner about the scale of improvement needed across the force so that every Londoner can feel both protected and served."

The number of strip-searches on children increased each year, with 18pc carried out in 2018, 36pc in 2019 and 46pc in 2020.

In almost a quarter (23pc) of cases, strip-searches took place without an “appropriate adult” confirmed to have been present – something required by law, except in cases of “urgency”.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the force is "progressing at pace" to ensure children subject to intrusive searches are dealt with appropriately.

They said changes have already been made, and that officers and staff have a "refreshed understanding" of policies, particularly around the requirement for an appropriate adult to be present.

“More widely we have reviewed the policy for ‘further searches’ for those aged under 18," they said. "This is to assure ourselves the policy is appropriate and also that it recognises the fact a child in these circumstances may well be a vulnerable victim of exploitation by others involved in gangs, county lines and drug dealing.”