Voyeurism claims: just one in 10 led to charge

ONLY one in 10 reports of indecent exposure or voyeurism ended with a prosecution last year despite evidence that the killer of Sarah Everard could have been stopped if previous flashing crimes had been tackled, MPs were told today.

Met Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe admitted the charge rate of 10.9 per cent for the 1,566 indecent exposure or voyeurism crimes recorded by police was not high enough.

Her admission came at a hearing of the Commons home affairs committee on “non-contact” sexual offences — which include upskirting and cyber-flashing as well as indecent exposure and voyeurism — at which police chiefs were being questioned on the law enforcement response to such crimes. Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told MPs that there was an “epidemic” of crimes of violence against women and girls with around one in 10 females suffering such crimes during their lifetime.

She said the gravity of the problem was recognised by police and is now being tackled with the same intensity as terrorism in the wake of “awful cases” that had exposed the consequences of police inaction.

The kidnap, rape and murder of Ms Everard, pictured left, by serving police officer Wayne Couzens was among the cases to which she was referring.

A report into the crime earlier this year by Lady Angiolini revealed that a succession of previous indecent exposure offences committed by Couzens had not been adequately pursued by police, leaving him free to remain in the Met and use his police position to abduct and murder Ms Everard.

Ms Rolfe said the force was now prioritising the pursuit of those committing violence against women, with figures showing a 244 per cent increase in rape reports being received by the force and 11 per cent of emergency calls to police being about victims of domestic abuse.

Today’s hearing was organised by the home affairs select committee in response to what it said was the increased focus on crimes such as indecent exposure, voyeurism, upskirting and cyber-flashing after “revelations that the murders of Libby Squire and Sarah Everard were committed by men with a history of committing acts of indecent exposure and/or voyeurism”.