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This article discusses the nature and extent of child homicide and fatal abuse. According to a survey carried out by the charity Kidscape and reported in "The Guardian" newspaper in August 1, 1995, parents rate abduction and assault of their child by a stranger as their greatest fear. Indeed, child abductions have trebled over the past ten years but most are carried out by estranged parents. A child being abducted and murdered by a stranger, although devastating for the families concerned, is in fact an extremely rare phenomenon. Home Office statistics in Great Britain show that over the past ten years, from 1984-1993, there have been 57 children murdered by strangers. This figure is roughly equivalent to the number of filicides each year in Great Britain where children are killed by their parents. Thus, British children are more likely to be killed in their own home by members of their own family than anywhere else or by anyone else in society. A similar point has been made for children in the U.S. and Australia. However, in some developing countries this premise may be incorrect. Perhaps the parental fear of child killings by strangers is out of proportion because of media coverage.