Sex offenders let off crimes... just by saying sorry to victims

MORE than 2,000 sex offenders including rapists have avoided serious punishment in the past four years after being made to ‘apologise’ to their victims.

Offenders escaped getting a criminal record after the police and Crown Prosecution Service agreed to a ‘community resolution’ instead of taking them to court.

The orders, which involve criminals admitting responsibility for their offence and either apologising or paying compensation to a victim, were meant to be used for low-level crimes. But data from the Home Office shows they were used to clear up 2,152 sex crimes in the past four years, including sexual assaults, grooming and flashing offences.

It means that every week more than ten sex offenders are escaping any real punishment and side-stepping the court system after being allowed to just say ‘sorry’ to their victims.

The Mail first highlighted troubling use of community resolutions for sex offenders last year – and latest data shows their use is continuing at higher levels than previously.

There were 639 in the year to last March, after the previous 12 months saw 643 – sharply up on 421 to 449 in the previous two years.

Police chiefs say community resolutions are normally only ever used in relation to sexual offences if the victim is content for the crime to be dealt with in that way.

The tally of cases dealt with in this way in the past four years includes 11 rape attacks on children.

Last year police forces in Hampshire and Humberside used this method to deal with separate rape attacks in their area on girls aged under 13, while the West Midlands police used the same method to conclude an investigation into the rape of a boy under 13.

In the previous three years officers in Durham, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Nottinghamshire used the method to deal with rape attacks on girls under 13, while police in Norfolk used a community resolution in relation to the rape of a young boy.

Merseyside police used the method to dispose of an offence of rape of a girl under 16, while both Derbyshire and Devon and Cornwall police closed off two rape cases of women in this way.

This method was also used to conclude 56 cases of sexual grooming and 378 offences of exposure or voyeurism in the past four years.

In total, there were 1,169 sexual assault cases in the past four years that were ended with a community resolution, the majority committed on women and girls. Officers say some of the offences are between two consenting underage children, and the incident has to be recorded as a crime although prosecution would be too severe a punishment.

When a victim reports a crime, police forces can opt for a community resolution if the offender accepts they were responsible and offers some form of apology or compensation.

Typically they are only used for low-level offences committed by people who are not considered prolific or dangerous offenders.

The victim’s view in how the crime should be dealt with will be considered by the police but officers are not bound by it.

David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: ‘Apologising might be an appropriate punishment for a child who is rude or drew on the wall. But it is a totally inappropriate way to deal with violent and sexual offenders.

‘The use of community resolutions for crimes of this nature are a huge slap in the face for victims and their families.’

He added: ‘ These offenders should be behind bars and the Home Office should step in now to ensure that police forces are prohibited from using community resolutions for anything but the most trivial of misdemeanours.’

Kevin Moore, a retired detective chief superintendent and former head of Sussex Police CID, said: ‘On the face of it the figures appear to be appalling and most members of the public will be concerned why such serious recorded crimes are being finalised through community resolution.

‘As a former senior police officer and having led such investigations or supervised others doing so, in my opinion the majority of these cases should culminate in a criminal prosecution.’

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said there was a ‘complexity’ and ‘nuance’ behind the cases that the bald statistics did not show.

‘They should be behind bars’