Just a fraction of rape investigations in Humberside Force area end with charge, reveal Home Office figures

The stats come as the Government launches a new strategy aimed at tackling violence against women and girls, which includes a focus on prevention and improving the criminal justice response to offences that disproportionately affect women, such as rape and harassment.

Home Office figures reveal Humberside Police concluded 890 rape investigations, where the alleged victim was female, in the year to March – but only 64 (7%) resulted in a charge or summons.

The force dropped 760 investigations (85%) due to difficulties gathering evidence and 42 cases (5%) because a suspect could not be identified.

Low charge rates are seen across reports of sexual offences as a whole – Humberside Police charged a suspect in a sex offence case 306 times in 2020-21, equating to just 11% investigations closed over the period.

Although these figures include offences against both men and women, separate data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the majority of recorded sexual offences nationally, the victim is female.

Detective Chief Inspector Pete Thorp, of Humberside Police’s Protecting Vulnerable People Unit, said: “Every force across the country would like to see more offenders being convicted for rape and sexual offences, and in Humberside we are working tirelessly to achieve this. The victim is always our priority, ensuring they receive support and are protected, very closely followed by swiftly bringing the offender to justice.

“I know it can be incredibly difficult for victims to come forward, however I want those affected to know that we are for you. When you are ready to talk, we will listen and we will thoroughly investigate the crime.

“As a force we have made huge improvements over the last 12 months becoming a Force that reported some of the highest positive outcome rates around rape and serious sexual offences in the country.

“Over the past three years we have seen a fall in reported of rape cases, however this may be due to the pandemic during 2020 where it decreased to less than a third of the previous two years.

“Confidence of victims in coming forward remains high and more victims feel that they will be believed and supported. This is a positive step forward and we continue to do all we can to increase the number of referrals made and charges brought.

“We have just launched new campaign aiming to prevent, reduce and stop offenders from having the opportunity to target vulnerable people, therefore preventing them from committing sexual assault or rape. Read more about this here: https://www.humberside.police.uk/getconsent.

“If you have been the victim of rape or sexual assault, there are various ways you can report it to the police.

“You can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously, or by speaking to a charity or a health professional and asking them to report the offence, or you can report directly through our 101 number, or 999 in an emergency.”