The deaths of Zara Aleena, Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and many others have reignited a national conversation about the safety of women and girls. Sarah Everard’s killer was a serving officer in the Metropolitan Police Force, which has since published an action plan to tackle violence against women and girls across London.
But further changes have been called for – including a demand by MPs for action to address the “shocking” collapse in rape prosecutions in England and Wales. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), between April 2020 and March 2021, 177 women were murdered in England and Wales, compared to 416 men.
Of these women, 109 were killed by a man and 10 by a woman. In 58 cases there was no known suspect. This means that – where the suspect was known – 92% of women were killed by men in the year ending March 2021.
The most recent data from the ONS shows that 60% of the women killed in England or Wales knew their suspected killer, compared to 44% of male victims. Around a third of suspects were a current or former partner. This is the most common relationship between victim and attacker where one exists.
In England and Wales, a total of 40,572 women were victims of sexual assault in the year ending September 2021, an increase of 13% from the previous year (35,029 offences). This is the highest number of sexual offences ever recorded within a 12-month period.
Between April 2020 and March 2021, there was a decrease in recorded cases of rape and sexual assault against women. This is likely because of lockdown restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic. Police statistics do not report the gender of the attacker in sexual assault offences.
In the year ending September 2021, 41,332 women were victims of rape, also the highest annual figure recorded to date. This is an increase of 10% from the previous year (37,502 offences). The ONS said there were “notable increases” in the number of reported sexual offences after Sarah Everard’s disappearance.
Despite the record increase in the number of offences being reported, the End Violence Against Women Coalition believes the real total is much higher: “We know that these figures are still just the tip of the iceberg,” says director Andrea Simon. “Many women do not feel able to report sexual assault to police, for reasons ranging from societal cultures of victim-blaming, to myths and stereotypes that impact how survivors are treated.
In England and Wales Home Office data shows that for the year ending September 2021, just 1.3% of rape offences with a recorded outcome have led to a charge or further court proceedings. This percentage includes both female victims (the vast majority) and male victims of rape and excludes cases which are still being investigated.
Ministry of Justice figures from 2020 show that 1,717 cases of rape involving a male perpetrator and female victim led to a prosecution. Of these, 492 led to a conviction (29%).
Over the past four years, prosecutions for rape in England and Wales have fallen by 70%. One reason for this decline is that a large proportion of victims decide to withdraw from proceedings. Between July and September 2021, this was the reason that 63% of rape investigations were closed.
The police recorded 895,782 offences related to domestic abuse in England and Wales in the year ending December 2021. This is a 7% increase on the 839,376 offences recorded in the previous year. Data collected from 26 police forces across England and Wales indicates that women represented 73% of domestic abuse victims in the year ending in March 2021.
In addition, 690,929 incidents of stalking and harassment were recorded by police over the same period, a 21% rise on the previous year. An estimated 4.6% of the adult female population in England and Wales were victims of stalking offences between April 2019 and March 2020.
It is possible some of the increase may be a result of changes to the way police identify and record stalking cases. Victims may also feel more confident reporting offences.
Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid says the government must take the issue of women’s safety more seriously. “Far too many women continue to tell us that their experiences at the hands of violent men are belittled, disbelieved and dismissed by police and the criminal justice system.” She wants “fundamental cross-system change” to tackle what she calls “the epidemic of violence against women and girls”.