Police forces in England and Wales record the highest ever number of rapes and sexual offences in 2022
- There were 199,021 sex crimes logged by forces in the year to September 2022
- This is up 22 per cent compared to the year ending March 2020 (163,244)
The number of police-recorded sexual offences in England and Wales has hit a record high.
There were 199,021 sex crimes logged by forces in the year to September 2022.
This is up 22 per cent compared to the year ending March 2020 (163,244), prior to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The figures, published on Thursday, also show the overall number of crimes recorded by England and Wales police forces exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
There were 199,021 sex crimes logged by forces in the year to September 2022, according to ONS figures
They sky-rocketed to reach 6.6 million in the 12 months to September.
This was 10 per cent higher than the year to March 2020 when 6.1 million offences were recorded.
The ONS urged ‘caution’ when interpreting the data on sexual offences, which could be affected by a ‘number of factors’.
This includes improvements in how police record crime as well as victims being more willing to come forward and report incidents in light of high-profile cases and campaigns.
This comes after every police force in England was warned to root out sex offenders and to check staff have not ‘slipped through the net’ after Metropolitan Police’s David Carrick rape scandal.
Carrick, 48, who was known to colleagues as ‘B***ard Dave’, admitted to 80 sexual offences, including 48 rapes, while serving with the force between 2003 and 2020.
He kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard while she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham in March 2020.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council is set to ask all forces to check their officers against national police databases to help identify anyone who has ‘slipped through the net’ before vetting standards were toughened.
The number of police-recorded sexual offences in England and Wales has hit a record high, ONS data has found
Meghan Elkin, from the ONS, said: ‘While police-recorded sexual offences are the highest annual figures recorded for England and Wales, the crime survey shows no significant change in prevalence.
‘The police figures are influenced by a number of factors including willingness to report.
And for forces where data is available, we see that 22 per cent of all sexual offences reported last year had taken place over a year prior to the incident being recorded’.
Chief executive at the charity Victim Support, Diana Fawcett said ‘This huge rise in recorded sexual offences comes as the percentage of cases seeing justice has plummeted to an abysmal new low.
‘Charges for rape and sexual offences have been falling sharply for the past six years – the system is in crisis. We are on a path to destroying victims faith in the criminal justice system altogether.
‘Police and the CPS have a duty to survivors who have experienced life-changing trauma – they must do better and start delivering justice.’
Since Sarah Everard’s murder at least 16 Metropolitan Police officers have been convicted of crimes which the vast majority were for sexual offences or violence against women.
One 22-year-old Met Police Officer faces jail after he admitted having sex with a 14-year-old school girl and possessing indecent images of children as young at two.
PC Hussain Chehab pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual activity with a child, one of sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.
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