More than 6500 children witnessed domestic abuse over the Christmas period.

A report by the police-led Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), published ahead of its domestic abuse conference, showed 6585 children were present during domestic abuse incidents in December and January.

But the real figure is almost certainly higher, warned anti-violence campaign leader Strathclyde Police Chief Inspector Graham Goulden.

He said: "These are just the incidents we know about; the incidents where police have been called and recorded that children were present. Sadly, this will not be the full picture.

"We know it can often take many incidents of abuse before a victim feels able to report, often because they fear what will happen to their children if they do.

"It's likely there are other children out there that we don't know about who will have seen domestic abuse over Christmas."

The release of the figures follows the "letter to Santa" campaign by the VRU and Children First to raise awareness of how domestic violence affects children.

Alison Todd, director of policy and practice at Children First, said: "We need to start thinking about children who witness domestic abuse as victims.

"We need to be doing all we can to protect children from domestic abuse – the data suggests well over 30,000 children in Scotland could be living in fear of abuse and violence."