Reported incidents of sexual offences at 6 football stadium in 2021/22

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024646

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please tell me how many reported incidents of a) rape, b) sexual assault and c) miscellaneous sexual offences happened in the financial year 2021/22 at the following address(es):

1) Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 782 High Rd, London N17 0BX
2) Stamford Bridge Stadium, Fulham Rd., London SW6 1HS
3) London Stadium, London E20 2ST
4) Selhurst Park Stadium, Selhurst London, SE25
5) Emirates Stadium, Hornsey Rd, London N7 7AJ
6) Brentford Community Stadium, 166 Lionel Rd N, Brentford TW8 9QT

By ‘rape’, I’m referring exclusively to the following offence classifications:
• 19C Rape of a female aged 16 and over
• 19D Rape of a female child under 16
• 19E Rape of a female child under 13
• 19F Rape of a male aged 16 and over
• 19G Rape of a male child under 16
• 19H Rape of a male child under 13
• 19J Rape of a Female – Multiple Undefined Offenders
• 19K Rape of a Male - Multiple Undefined Offenders

By ‘sexual assault’ I’m referring exclusively to the following offence classifications:
• 17A Sexual assault on a male aged 13 and over
• 17B Sexual assault on a male child under 13
• 20A Sexual assault on a female aged 13 and over
• 20B Sexual assault on a female child under 13
• 21 Sexual activity involving a child under 13
• 22A Causing sexual activity without consent
• 22B Sexual activity involving child under 16

By ‘miscellaneous sexual offences’ I’m referring exclusively to the following offence classifications:
• 70 Sexual activity etc. with a person with a mental disorder
• 71 Abuse of children through Sexual Exploitation
• 73 Abuse of position of trust of a sexual nature
• 88A Sexual grooming
• 88C Other miscellaneous sexual offences
• 88D Unnatural sexual offences
• 88E Exposure and voyeurism
• 8Q Stalking
• 23 Incest or familial sexual offences

Please breakdown by
a) number of alleged incidents at the above-mentioned addresses (separately for each stadium)
b) Broken down by ‘rape’ (as defined above), ‘sexual assault’ (as defined above) or ‘miscellaneous sexual offences’ (as defined above)
c) Further broken down by offence category (e.g. 20 counts of 'miscellaneous sexual offences', of which 5 incidents of 88A sexual grooming, 15 of 88E exposure and voyeurism)

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information below which shows how many sexual offences and allegations for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, where the location matches the full postcode of each stadium and the location is the stadium. Those shown as outside, opposite or near have been excluded as have any that are in a nearby building with the same postcode which is not the stadium itself.

Information relating to the specific stadium and broken down any further has been exempted. This information is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) – Personal Information, as it may lead to the identification of victims or suspects.

A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under the Act, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual.

The exemption provided by Section 40 has been applied as disclosure of some of the information contained in the attached document is considered by the MPS to be personal to the victims and suspects and the MPS believes that its release would constitute unfair processing of personal data under principle one of the Data Protection Act.

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) - PERSONAL INFORMATION - I consider that Section 40(2) and 40(3A)(a) is applicable in this case, as any further disclosure at this level of detail, would breach the 1st data protection principle that requires personal data to be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals.

For such disclosure to be lawful, it would be necessary to satisfy a condition within Article 6 of the GDPR. Article 6 sets out the six lawful bases, applying to all processing; one of which must be in place in every case of disclosure of personal data, in accordance with the first data protection principle. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance provides:

‘In all circumstances, you must have an Article 6 lawful basis for processing.

There are six lawful bases for processing in Article 6, but only (a) consent or (f) legitimate interest are relevant to disclosure under FOIA or EIR.

In order to assess whether this lawful basis is engaged you need to consider three key questions:

(i) Purpose: what is the legitimate interest in disclosure of the information?
(ii) Necessity: is disclosure necessary for that purpose?
(iii) Balancing test: does the legitimate interest outweigh the interests and rights of the individual?’

Here, we need to balance the rights and freedoms of the individuals involved with any legitimate public interest in disclosure. Any further disclosure of the requested information complete with a breakdown by stadium, under FOIA legislation is not necessary to meet a legitimate interest, particularly when considering the distress that is likely to be caused to victims and individuals with the disclosure of wholly personal information via an FOIA request.

With this in mind, the data subjects in the circumstances of your request would have a legitimate expectation that this type of personal data would not be used for non-policing purposes (i.e. FOIA requests – disclosures for which are also placed on the MPS website Publication Scheme).

Any further disclosure in the circumstances of your request would be unlawful and would therefore contravene the first data protection principle. I have therefore applied the exemption provided under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act to this information as the first condition, defined in subsection (3A)(a) of Section 40 has been satisfied. This therefore, becomes an absolute exemption.

Disclosure

Sexual offences and allegations at Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Brentford football clubs' stadiums for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022