Please can you talk to me about reporting dv and rape to the police if it happened ages ago?

[LarryAdler]

What it says in the title really. Was 15 years ago, can't remember dates, have no evidence, not sure if I can remember his date of birth even, no idea where he is living now. I've been having some counselling and been talking about my guilt at not reporting. What would happen if I went to the police now?

Sorry to say it but most likely nothing. What could they do?

I honestly don't think the police would be able to do anything, unless maybe they could check whether he's been convicted of anything similar over the years, but even then, with no evidence they won't be able to take any action, I wouldn't have thought

but if a couple of other people came forward in the same way...then they would be looking very closely at him...so...you can report, they can take a statement and then probably nothing would happen, or perhaps it would.

In any case it would do no harm and might just do some good. If you could face it it might give you some sense of moving on from the awfulness of that relationship. Having no more secrets to keep is very empowering for me. How would it feel for you do you think?

Were you living with a man who raped you and subjected you to domestic violence on a number of occasions?

What was the reason you didn't report these incidents at the time they occurred?

*Sorry to say it but most likely nothing. What could they do?
*
Not so. I worked as a domestic abuse officer before having DS and dealt with several historical cases. They will listen to you, take a report, investigate as far and as much as they can. They will offer you support.

Please report it. The police can't do anything all the while they don't know about it.

Chances are they'll be able to find him even if you can only supply a minimum of information. They have details of a lot of nasty people on their files.

First of all they would take it seriously, take an initial account, then allocate a detective to the case. They will take a statement from you, or video interview you.
They will then do their best to track the suspect down, arrest him and interview him.
The case will be reviewed independently, and a decision made.

Like the others say, how do you know he has not done it before or continue doing it to others.

Men who rape women rarely do it once

Only you can decide if you want to report. There are specially trained officers who will deal with the case - you may want to ring the general police number and ask for the Public Protection or Family Crime Team to save being passed from one officer to another. The units are called something a bit different in each area but going on the website of the force where it happened should give you that information.
You say there's no evidence. Have you thought about whether anyone (a doctor, relative or friend) saw any injuries you had at the time? Or did you tell anyone about it since it happened? This can potentially be used as evidence now. And if he has convictions for similar offences or even other complaints against him for similar matters it may be that can be used as 'bad character evidence' to demonstrate his propensity to carry out such an attack.
Good luck.

Thank you, there's some really useful stuff here which is helping me make a decision. Trying to weigh it all up really. Foolonthehill, that helps to think about having no more secrets. Big decision to make.

agree with 'FeakAndWeeble' Please report it even though it was a long time ago. I think you know you have to. There may be other people who have reported it about the same person. You don't deserve to live feeling like this for the rest of your life. Good luck.