One in five women are victims of sex attacks

ONE in five women have been the victim of a sexual assault, figures show.

Some 3.4million have suffered sex crimes, including rape, assault, indecent exposure or unwanted touching.

And at least 510,000 women experienced some type of sexual assault in the past year alone – an estimated 3.1 per cent of all women aged 16 to 59.

A detailed analysis of crime figures also found 4 per cent of men have endured some type of sex assault since the age of 16 – equivalent to 631,000 victims.

An estimated 138,000 men experienced some type of sexual assault in the past year. The damning numbers for the year to March 2017 were published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics.

Sarah Green, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: ‘Half a million women being sexually assaulted in one year should alarm us all.

‘The figures are published as the justice system is being rocked by rape trials which have been stopped due to evidence problems. But we also see women fighting back in the #metoo movement.

‘It is time to ask – who is committing these crimes and why are they so confident they will not be stopped?’ Katie Russell, of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: ‘These figures highlight the high levels of sexual violence perpetrated each year.’

The Office for National Statistics said the scale of sexual assaults against women measured by the Crime Survey for England and Wales had remained stable since 2005.

More than 80 per cent of victims did not report their experiences to police, said the ONS.

But police recorded 121,187 sexual offences in the year to last March – a 14 per cent increase. Experts say the rise is partly because victims were more willing to report attacks, while police recording practices have improved following criticism by watchdogs.