Can I still access police records about an incident from the 1970s?

[SueAnn1111]

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place but...
When I was very young, in the late 70's I was approached by a paedophile, I was ok thank God but I never forgot it and had nightmares for months after. Police took a statement and told my parents he was a 'known paedophile'. Never heard anything else after that. Counselling wasn't a thing back then so just gradually got back to normal. To this day I still wonder if he was jailed, if he ever hurt another child, I can still see him so clearly and what he was wearing, his voice. I have been wondering if police would still have a record of him, I feel I want to know who he was, what his name was, what happened to him. Otherwise it still feels he is around, 'out there' though he must be an old man or dead by now. No longer a threat to me or anyone else (hopefully) but just feel i can finally let it go if I knew who he was.

If you know his name and roughly when it was, I think there may be a record. They did record things, just not as robustly.

Thanks for replying, I wasn't give any of his details, probably because i was underage. I don't know if they told my Mum but she died a few years ago so I can't ask her. I had to tell a policewoman everything, she wrote it all down, then showed my Mum - I'd made her go in another room as didn't want her to hear but she had to sign my statement on my behalf as I was underage, so read it all. It was so upsetting.

Maybe they will be able to trace from a victim name if the records have been digitised. I'd contact the local police station for advice. I think it is worth a shot for sure.

I’m afraid it is unlikely the records still exist. Police Forces (though it varies from area to area) had and have polices on when records are destroyed. Some are kept forever but most are not, especially if it did not lead to a charge or conviction. Lots of files were (lawfully) destroyed when Forces digitised their files and in some areas, documents were lost through fire or improper storage. I’m only saying this so you won’t get your hopes up. But there is nothing to stop you contacting the Force you gave a statement to and asking if they have any records of your report. You might be lucky. Best of luck.

"in the late 70's ...To this day I still wonder if he was jailed,"

For cases before 1971, court records are held by The National Archive in London.

For court cases from 1971 then HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) should have the records and you can make a FOI request right at the very bottom of this page:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service

There is also some advice on this here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/hmcts

If this person was convicted from 1971 onwards then HMCTS will likely have records of the judgment.

[EDIT]

Speaking as somebody who approaches this from a genealogy background, there are also websites which have newspaper records from back then and it is likely that his name will have been reported in a local newspaper at the time if he was convicted.

Thank you all for the responses, I will use the information to see if I can find anything. If not, I just have to be thankful it wasn't worse and accept it as a memory that comes up from time to time, I did discuss it with a counsellor in the past which helped, but things like this don't get erased from your mind.