The number of rape charges and convictions being achieved in court have been overstated in Crown Prosecution Service figures, the country’s top prosecutor has admitted.
Max Hill KC said that one reason was that offenders initially charged with rape but convicted instead of sexual assault had been included in the rape conviction total. He said that other cases where an initial rape charge had later been dropped had also been included in the charging statistics. He accepted that the cause of problem was a “flagging” system used to identify rape and other sensitive cases.
