Record number of sexual offences recorded in Blackburn with Darwen

According to new figures, police logged a record high number of sexual offences in Blackburn with Darwen in the 12 months to September 2022.

Office for National Statistics figures show Lancashire Constabulary recorded 597 sexual offences – up from 469 during the previous 12 months - and the highest since equivalent records began in the year to September 2007.

It follows a trend across England and Wales, as police forces logged a record 199,021 sex crimes in the year to September, up 17 per cent on the 12 months before.

It was also up 22 per cent compared with the year ending March 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic – crime levels were greatly reduced during the lockdown periods.

Of these, 70,633 (35 per cent) were rapes – a 20 per cent increase from the 59,104 recorded in the 12 months to March 2020.

The ONS urged "caution" when interpreting the data on sexual offences, which could be affected by a “number of factors” including improvements in how police record crime, as well as victims being more willing to come forward and report incidents in light of high-profile cases and campaigns.

In response to the figures, a spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “Rape and sexual assault is one of the most complex and challenging crimes we deal with within the criminal justice system.

“Our officers are dedicated to achieving the best outcomes for all victims.

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“We are committed to working to improve the support offered to victims and tighten our grip on offenders.

“Over the last 12 months we have implemented dedicated RASSO teams to ensure dedicated investigators with the appropriate training take ownership of investigations and look after the individual needs of victims.

“We have developed our capability to extract data from digital devices and we are working closely with Lancashire victim services to provide dedicated support and with the Crown Prosecution Service to maximise opportunities for prosecution and reduce the length of time taken to bring offenders to justice.

“To build on this work already in place we have signed up as one of 14 forces to join the expansion programme for Operation Soteria Bluestone, a National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) led and Home Office funded research and change programme.

“The scheme aims to transform the policing response to rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) and will result in a national operating model which will be rolled out to all 43 Home Office forces.

“We recognise there is more to do but we will continue in our efforts to ensure we put offenders behind bars, secure justice for victims and protect the public.”

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Diana Fawcett, chief executive of Victim Support, said: "This huge rise in recorded sexual offences comes as the percentage of cases seeing justice has plummeted to an abysmal new low.

"Charges for rape and sexual offences have been falling sharply for the past six years – the system is in crisis.

“We are on a path to destroying victims’ faith in the criminal justice system all together.

"Police and the CPS have a duty to survivors who have experienced life-changing trauma – they must do better and start delivering justice."

Further ONS figures show the overall number of recorded crimes across the country remained below pre-pandemic levels.

The crime survey for England and Wales estimates 9.1 million offences were committed in the year to September – down 10 per cent on the 10.2 million committed in the year to March 2020, the last full year before the pandemic.

Police recorded figures, which only include the crimes logged by the police, show 5.5 million crimes (excluding fraud) were recorded in the year to September – 13 per cent up on the 4.9 million logged the year before.

In Blackburn with Darwen, 15,178 crimes were recorded by police – up by 2 per cent on the 14,903 the year before.

Minister for Policing, Crime and Fire Chris Philp said: "I am clear, there is much more to do, particularly to protect women and girls.

"We need to stop rapes from happening and put more predators behind bars.

"With huge efforts underway across the criminal justice system, we are now starting to see signs of improvement in the number of charges and prosecutions.

"We are also working hard to make our streets safer, and are injecting public funds into interventions that have been shown to work, reducing violent crime, taking out organised criminal gangs and quelling our streets of drugs and antisocial behaviour."