Cold Case Investigations: Solving Britain’s Sex Crimes initially appears to be yet another behind-the-scenes documentary about police work in the UK, along the lines of 24 Hours in Police Custody, Night Coppers, The Met and so on. But this stands out because the investigations covered in these two episodes are historic crimes, which have been unsolved for between 20 and 40 years, and because its focus is on sexual offences. The sensitivity this requires is evident; the stories are told carefully, with respect for the victims and for the officers meticulously reassembling what is often complex historical evidence and applying new techniques to it.
Rape is notoriously underreported, conviction rates remain horrifyingly low and the delay in cases reaching court was recently called “a serious stain” on the justice system by a senior judge. The statistics here arrive rapidly. Hundreds of thousands of unsolved rape and sexual assault cases are lying dormant in police archives across the UK. A major crime unit has launched a push to re-examine 5,400 unsolved rape and sexual offence cases from the past 50 years, using forensic science that was previously unavailable.
