Over the three-year period from 2018 to 2020 only 17% of complaints of such offences resulted in the conviction of offenders, statistics released by the police show.
Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey, head of crime for the States police, said: ‘It is concerning and we can and must do better – no one is trying to hide that.’
Over the three-year period – which includes lockdown last year – there were 535 recorded allegations of rape or serious sexual offences, which resulted in 117 court cases. Although the majority of these resulted in convictions, police are concerned about the number of cases which do not come to court because victims decide not tosupport prosecutions.
‘Those cases are very difficult to do anything with,’ Det Supt Fossey said. ‘The figures are in line with the national trend and there has been a decline in the number of charges and prosecutions for rape and serious sexual offences, and fewer convictions. However, when cases are prosecuted and victims stay engaged, we do see results in court.’
A new joint action plan is about to be signed off by the States police and the Law Officers’ Department based on the national Project Bluestone best practice developed initially by the Avon and Somerset force.
The plan will commit the police to obtaining early advice on investigations from the Law Officers’ Department and record the reasons if it is not requested; no case will be dropped without a formal meeting between investigators and prosecutors; the police will have a mechanism to challenge a decision not to prosecute; and data will be shared by the two agencies to understand why some victims have disengaged from cases or police have failed to meet the evidential threshold to prosecute.
‘We are committed to taking action and we have drawn up a plan for narrowing the disparity between the number of reported offences and the number of offences going to court, as well as encouraging more people to come forward and report with confidence,’ Det Supt Fossey said. ‘Public confidence in the criminal justice system is vital if we are to tackle these types of cases effectively. We know that victims need to see evidence that they can report abuse with confidence and that’s only possible with a system that shows outcomes that are fair to all.’
Det Supt Fossey acknowledged the public concern generated by the Sarah Everard case in the UK and the recent arrest of an off-duty Jersey police officer for an alleged sexual assault. Declining to comment on that case, she nonetheless said that any accusation of misconduct against police officers would be thoroughly and impartially investigated.
‘We recognise that we must have, as a police force and as professionals, the highest standards of behaviour that the public would expect and nothing less,’ she said.
Earlier this month Kate Bex, a leading UK QC who specialises in cases involving rape and serious sexual offences, visited the Island to provide training to States police officers and members of the Law Officers’ Department. This was the first in what is planned to be a regular programme of sessions. All Jersey detectives will also be sent on a new College of Policing course on the investigation of serious sexual offences.
- Det Supt Fossey is the subject of today’s Saturday Interview on pages 10 and 11.
