As many as 60% of all rape investigations are closed before prosecution because the alleged victim no longer supports police action, up from 43% nine years earlier, according to official data. Separate CPS figures show that the number of alleged rape victims pulling out of prosecutions before trial has also more than doubled in five years.
The average rape investigation takes 423 days to result in a charge or summons – compared with 55 days for violence against the person, or 28 days for theft – meaning fewer were solved at year-end than other crimes.
The proportion of violent or sexual offence crimes solved rose slightly last year, to 11%, compared with a year earlier (10%). However, solve rates remain lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic: 16% of these crimes were solved in 2018, while 13% were solved the following year.
Figures published on data.police.uk, a site for open data on crime and policing, show 611 council wards with at least one violent or sexual crime each fortnight where fewer than 10% led to a suspect getting caught or charged.
Nine of those neighbourhoods – which exclude Greater Manchester and Devon and Cornwall forces because of data issues – saw no crimes solved in the 12 months ending July 2024.
Full info at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/13/most-violent-or-sexual-offences-went-unsolved-in-uk-hotspots-last-year