FIVE children from the same Bolton family have been made the subject of court orders to prevent female genital mutilation.

The orders were imposed on a newborn girl and her four older siblings following a successful application to Bolton Family Court by Bolton Council.

The older girls have already had procedures, which are a criminal offence in the UK.

The orders prevent them having more and their baby sister from having any at all.

It is customary in some cultures in south-east Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa to deliberately cut, injure or change the genitals of girls (known as FGM for short) without a medical reason — but such a procedure is a criminal offence in the UK.

The orders were the work of the Public Protection Investigation Unit, a Bolton-based joint police and council team in which police officers work side by side with social workers in a set-up that is unique in Greater Manchester.

Detective Inspector Tanya Kitchen said: "We have got a case ongoing where we put orders in place to prevent anything being done to a newborn but also prevent any further cutting to four other children, females, in one family.

"The older females have already had it done."

The orders were issued after GMP ran an awareness campaign at Manchester Airport handing out leaflets and speaking to passengers about FGM.

DI Kitchen said: "The big problem mainly is getting people to report it. They say it is part of their culture.

"It transpires largely after the event.

“People are settling here as refugees or economic migrants and when they are pregnant or having health checks it is discovered they have already been a victim of FGM."

Detective Inspector Nathan Percival, who arranged the Manchester Airport operation, said Bolton had low levels of FGM compared to other parts of Greater Manchester where there is a greater concentration of people from those areas where the practice is commonplace.

DI Percival said: "It's like no other crime out there. This is physical abuse — an assault of children.

"These customs are being passed down for thousands of years, but the girls are disfigured for the rest of their lives."

He added: "We believe 'cutters' are working within the UK.

"Either they live here or are being paid to travel into the UK to carry out the procedure.

"We need a true multi-agency response. We're trying to build confidence with the community."

He said the number of reported offences across the force had risen from nine in the year to July, 2014 to 94 in the 12 months to July this year.

DI Percival said: "That could be attributed to both the new mandatory reporting obligations that have come in last year for health professionals, teachers and social workers and also more awareness among statutory services, thanks to training.

"There's now more help for victims from voluntary services and more confidence in terms of speaking out.

"We need information from communities. We're encouraging people to speak out to end this horrendous abuse."