Public concern about violence against women followed the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard
(Picture: PA Media)Rape and other sexual offences reported to police have hit a new record high after a huge surge in the number of victims coming forward over the past year, official figures revealed on Thursday.
The Office for National Statistics said that 9,272 rapes were recorded in the capital in the year to the end of March.
That was up 24 per cent on the total for the previous 12 months and amounts to an extra 1,785 rapes being reported to the Met or City of London Police during the year.
The increase in rapes in the capital — which mirrors a similar rise across the rest of England and Wales — came at the same time as an even bigger leap in other sex attacks.
They were up by 35 per cent in London to a 12 month total of 25,232 compared with 18,669 a year earlier. Sex offences also rose by a similar proportion nationwide with 194,683 such crimes being recorded across England and Wales over the past year, more than 46,000 up on the 12 months previously.
The statisticians said the figures were a record high although they emphasised that as well as a potential increase in attacks, it could also be a result of more women deciding to come forward.
“The latest figures may reflect a number of factors, including the impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage, and campaigns on people’s willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims,” the statisticians said.
“High levels of non-reporting combined with changes in reporting trends can have a significant impact on sexual offences recorded by the police. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of police recorded sexual offences was well below the number of victims estimated by the crime survey, with fewer than one in six victims of rape or assault by penetration reporting the crime to the police.”
The rise in reported sex attacks follows the wave of public concern about violence against women in the wake of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard and the murder of London school teacher Sabine Nessa in what prosecutors described as killing motivated by “sexual or sadistic conduct”.
The work of Londoner Emily Hunt, the independent adviser to the recently published government rape review, and of the London Victims’ Commissioner Claire Waxman have also helped to highlight the plight of victims.
The ONS figures also show an eight per cent increase nationwide in crimes flagged as involving domestic abuse, giving a yearly total of 909,504 such crimes. Separate statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that 5.7 per cent of all adults aged 16 to 59 years suffered domestic abuse in the year to the end of March.
The new statistics also show another big increase in fraud with 4.5 million offences over the past year. That represents a 25 per cent rise on the total two years ago and was driven partly by large increases in fraudsters exploiting the growth in online shopping. Examples include victims transferring funds to fraudsters for postal deliveries.
