Rapes and sex offences in England and Wales hit record high, new figures reveal

The number of rapes and sexual assaults recorded by police in England and Wales has hit a record high, latest official statistics have shown.

In the year leading to September 2021, there was a 12% increase in the report of sexual offences compared with the same period a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.

There were 170,973 offences recorded, with rape accounting for 37%.

The figures came with an alarming decrease in the amount of reported rapes leading to a charge.

Only 1.3% reported rapes led to a charge in the 12 months before September 2021, a decrease in the six months previous.

In the year to March 2021 the figure was 1.5%

The year ending September 2021 saw the highest recorded annual number of rape offences to date - 63,136.

The annual crime report said the number of offences recorded went down during lockdown, but since rules were relaxed in April 2021, there have been "substantial increases".

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It also added a note of caution around interpreting the level of offences, saying the changes could reflect a number of factors, such as the impact of high-profile cases and campaigns on victims’ willingness to report incidents.

There were 17,419 rapes recorded from July to September 2021, making it the highest number of rape offences recorded within a quarter in England and Wales.

The issue of rape and sexual assault, specifically against women, was thrust into the public discourse in March 2021, when 33-year-old Sarah Everard went missing on her walk home to her flat in Clapham, south London.

Her body was found a week later in a Hoad’s Wood, near Ashford in Kent.

A Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, was found guilty of her rape and murder, sparking an outcry of both anger and fear that women were not even safe from those supposed to protect them.

And despite the growing numbers of rapes being recorded, there are accusations the crime has been "effectively decriminalised" over dropping rates of charges and prosecutions.

The End Violence Against Women coalition said the latest statistics show 2,050 rape suspects charged across the 12 months to September 2021, with a corresponding 3,533 suspects referred from the police.

The group said they want to see charge levels return to 2016 levels,

In a statement they said: "Despite commitments to improve, justice system still fails women, as new CPS data shows rape and domestic abuse survivors face a broken system stacked against them."

It added: "Following public outcry at the effective decriminalisation of rape, the government and CPS made a public commitment that charging in cases of rape would return to the levels seen in 2016, when 3,671 suspects were charged out of a total of 6,611 suspects referred by police.

"At the time this was seen as inadequate, but plummeting levels of rape prosecution in recent years mean they are shockingly now considered a level of ambition.

"These latest statistics show 2,050 rape suspects charged across the 12 months to September 2021, with a corresponding 3,533 suspects referred from the police. Yet again, this shows that the CPS isn’t anywhere near making the improvements needed to deliver their promise of a return to 2016 charging levels by spring 2024."

CEO of Rape Crisis, Jayne Butler said: "We now need to see charge and conviction rates go up in line with reporting figures, so that women and girls are not going through the difficulty of reporting without a chance of justice."

While many types of crime decreased during lockdowns, police records show “indications that over the last six months, certain offence types are returning to or exceeding the levels seen before the pandemic”, the ONS said, adding that an increase in fraud and “computer misuse” offences during the pandemic “more than offset the reductions seen for other types of crime.”

Police recorded 5.8 million crimes in England and Wales in the 12 months to September, a 2% increase compared with the previous year (5.7million). Excluding fraud and computer misuse, the figure falls 1% (to 4.9 million).

There were 872,911 offences (not including fraud crimes) flagged as domestic abuse-related for the 12-month period, representing a 5% increase from 835,319 offences in the previous year.

The ONS said it “cannot conclude whether there has been an increase in the number of victims of domestic abuse” because of changes in the way the crimes are reported and recorded, but added: “Data from victim services suggests that experiences of domestic abuse may have intensified during periods of national lockdown and that victims faced difficulties in safely seeking support under these conditions.”