An alarming number of children are going missing from Lewisham Council's care.

New evidence has revealed 74 children in 2014 went missing from Lewisham Council's care, a staggering rise of 164 per cent.

This is a staggering rise from 28 in 2013 and well above the 118 per cent rise across London.

Liberal Democrat London Assembly leader Caroline Pidgeon launched the report London's Children: Missing From Care to provide a detailed picture of how many children have gone missing and how many times.

She said: "It is disturbing last year so many vulnerable children went missing from the care of Lewisham Council.

"A looked after child is already a vulnerable child.

"If they go missing for 24 hours or more they are immediately at serious risk, such as being drawn into criminal activity or becoming a victim of sexual abuse.

"There are a number of criminal syndicates which target girls and boys for sexual abuse, often targeting runaway children.

"While I recognise Lewisham Council are at least being open about how serious the situation is, it is now time they acted and turned this situation around."

The figures also revealed there were 33 incidents of children in Lewisham Council's care placed in Lewisham going missing for over 24 hours, and 51 incidents involving children placed out of Lewisham.

News Shopper has approached Lewisham Council for comment and is awaiting their response.

A spokeswoman for Lewisham Council told News Shopper last year the council had seen a steady decrease in the number of missing episodes over recent years.

In total, 888 children went missing from the care of London council's in 2014.