Adult rape crimes where offenders were charged & those still being investigated

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035083

I note you seek access to the following information:

• For adult rape crimes investigated by Metropolitan Police that led to an offender being charged in the last five years, please provide the date the investigation opened and the date the offender was charged in each case. (To be clear, I would like details for all adult rape crimes where the offender was charged within the last five years, even if the investigation was opened before that period.)
• For all adult rape crimes still being investigated by Metropolitan Police that have yet to see an outcome, please provide the the date the investigation was opened. (Again, to be clear, in this case I would like details for all adult rape crimes that have yet to see an outcome regardless of the date the investigation was opened, and not just those from the last five years.)

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

You have requested information in relation to the specific dates an individual reported an allegation of rape and the date the offender was charged for the last five years. Due to the numbers returned and the specifics of this question, if the information were to be disclosed to you broken down in this format, this could potentially cause individuals to be identified breaching their rights under the Data Protection Act.

To provide any specific dates in relation to this FoIA request could potentially reveal information that may result in the identification of individuals.

To disclose the information in relation to your request could publicly reveal information about an individual or individuals, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information - Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data.

The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.

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

In order to apply the Section 40(2) exemption, the disclosure of the requested information must satisfy either the first, second or third conditions as defined by subsections 3(A), 3(B) and 4(A) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Disclosure

Please find below the data in relation to the second part of your request. You will note that it has been possible to aggregate this into yearly information rather than supplying the specific dates the incident was reported, the reason for this is as above, to disclose the dates the investigations were open could potentially identify individuals.

In addition, of the data attached, it is not clear, without reading each report, if these reports have been reopened having previously been closed.

Commander Kevin Southworth, the Mets lead for public protection said, “The Met is determined to rebuild trust with women and girls and do more to protect them.
“We’ve already made solid progress – doubling our charges for rape since 2021 and using data to target the most predatory male offenders and bring them to justice. 
“We understand the impact that delays have on victims in rape cases and we are resolute in our commitment to do more alongside our partners in the criminal justice system, including the CPS, to make the investigation and court process as efficient as possible.”

Background:

Rape and Serious Sexual Offences are one of the most complex areas of our work there are many factors which can influence the timeliness of an investigation and the outcome remaining as pending.

These can include the volume of evidence to review, the need to conduct thorough interviews, legal processes, forensic analysis and the complexity of the investigations.

We know there is more to do to increase the number of cases brought before the courts and improve the process for victim survivors.

Investigations often last long periods of time and we know the devastating impact this can have on victims. We are working hard with partners to significantly reduce the length of time between reporting an offence and an outcome.

The Police – CPS Joint National Action Plan (JNAP) is part of a wider transformation initiative to improve the way we investigate and prosecute rape cases and is a system wide effort to improve the way we handle these cases.

The Met and CPS London are working together to deliver this plan. We are committed to ongoing learning and development to continually improve our practice, enable critical thinking and reflective practice. Police - CPS Joint National Action Plan