Indecent exposures soar - but prosecutions slump to new low

Indecent exposure reports by women have hit a record high in the wake of the Wayne Couzens scandal - but the proportion being charged by police has fallen to a new low.

Only one in 12 cases of indecent exposure are being solved by police, despite a 27 per cent increase in offences since the rape, kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard by Couzens, a serving Metropolitan Police officer. He was also subsequently found guilty of exposing himself to women before he killed her.

However, Home Office data analysed by The Telegraph showed that just 8.2 per cent of indecent exposure offences resulted in a charge, compared with 17 per cent in 2016 when records began.

Over the same period, the number of offences reported to police rose by 44 per cent, from 8,698 to 12,550.

Women’s groups believe this increased figure is an underestimate, as many victims do not report the crime due to concerns police will not take it seriously.

The failure to improve charging rates comes despite women being encouraged by ministers and police to report sexual offences in the wake of Ms Everard’s murder in March 2021.

Couzens was earlier this year found guilty of indecently exposing himself to four women before the killing. Campaign groups have said this demonstrates that the offence should be treated seriously as a potential precursor to more violent sexual attacks.

Police have been criticised for failing to act after Couzens’ indecent exposure was reported to Kent Police and Scotland Yard in 2020, and again in 2021 - just a month before Ms Everard was murdered.

‘Women feel very threatened’

The College of Policing, which sets standards for reporting and investigating crimes in England and Wales, is currently updating its guidelines to tell forces they must take indecent exposure more seriously and not treat it as an offence committed by “dirty old men”.

However, Dame Vera Baird, a former victims’ commissioner, solicitor general and police and crime commissioner, said the increase in the numbers reporting indecent exposure and the continued fall in the charging rates showed that forces had been too slow to respond to increased demand from victims.

She said there was a lag between police saying they would crack down following the Couzens scandal and forces putting in place measures to tackle it.

She added that it was compounded by an attitude that it was just a “silly offence by pathetic old men” and that they were not a threat to women.

“Women feel very threatened when this happens,” said Dame Vera.

“They are often completely on their own. Wayne Couzens exposed himself to a woman cyclist on a country lane, masturbating. That that is not a sexual threat is crazy.

“Women have been encouraged to report but that happens very much quicker than the police response.

“It remains a case that cases against women are regarded as full of overwrought emotions that police are not geared to deal with and they found them difficult.

“The shift to take them seriously takes a lot longer.”

New guidance being drawn up by the police standards body is expected to spell out how indecent exposure should be treated more seriously as an offence that could be a gateway to violent sexual attacks.

The new guidance being drawn up by the College of Policing is expected to require police to review and prioritise cases if, for example, the alleged perpetrator has contact with vulnerable individuals and could pose a threat to them.