RAPE investigations are often complex and time-consuming, a senior police officer has said as she justified why more than 100 cases remained unresolved at the end of last year – and outlined improvements aimed at speeding up justice.
Detective Superintendent Alison Fossey said many of the unresolved rape cases were historic – dating back years or even decades – and involved extensive evidence gathering.
“Historic cases, which make up 40% of all rape and serious sexual offences reports, naturally take longer to progress,” she explained.
“These investigations often involve gathering extensive third-party material, such as health and social services records, which can be complex and time-consuming, particularly when incidents date back decades.”
DS Fossey said the average time from complaint to conviction for rape and serious sexual offences is about two years – which, while “challenging”, reflected “the care and diligence required to build a strong, evidence-led case that can stand up in court”.
She described this time frame as a “positive benchmark” compared to many areas in the UK.
The senior police officer explained that digital evidence and external forensics also create delays – with police having seized over 1,000 devices in cases related to violence against women and girls in the past 18 months.
“Devices nowadays can hold up to one terabyte of data and that is equivalent of 1,300 filing cabinets of printed text,” she said.
“So that gives you an idea of the scale of the investigation and what investigators have to look through.”
To reduce delays, DS Fossey said the force has reviewed systems, created a new crime investigation tool, and introduced a national “victim-centred” and “suspect-focused” approach to serious sexual offences.
She added that the police are also working to engage earlier with prosecutors to focus enquiries on what will matter in court in a bid to reduce “wasted time and effort”.
“This helps to focus investigations and reduce timeframes by ensuring the key issues are identified early and there is no wasted effort in pursuing unnecessary lines of inquiry,” she explained.
DS Fossey attributed a 27% rise in offences related to violence against women and girls over the last three years to a greater confidence among victims to report.
This, she said, was due to increased public awareness following recent campaigns and internal changes made by the police through its violence against women and girls action plan.
The dedicated plan – which is now 98% complete – focused on building public confidence by challenging misogyny in policing, managing offenders through a trauma-aware approach, and creating safer public and online spaces through preventive work.
This included patrols around St Helier’s late-night venues to target “potential perpetrators hanging about looking for females who may be intoxicated” – alongside work with door staff, street pastors, taxis, bars and nightclubs.
It comes after the States police latest annual report revealed that 111 rape cases and 157 child sexual abuse cases were still active at the end of last year.
Jersey Action Against Rape chief executive Tracey Le Brocq described the figures as
“deeply concerning” and called for “sustained” investment in support services and “adequate” resources for police and prosecutors.
DS Fossey said that while more resources would always be helpful, police are focused on making the best use of the public finances available – adding that the force would do their “utmost” to speed up the delivery of justice.
Responding to suggestions from the Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel about prioritising rape trials and piloting judge-only trials, DS Fossey said: “Anything that makes this process quicker for victims has to be a good thing.”
In numbers…
- 19%: Detection rate* for sexual offences in 2024
- 21%: Detection rate for sexual offences so far in 2025
- 7%: Detection rate for rape in 2024
- 27%: Rise in reported VAWG offences over the last three years
- 47%: Projected rise in the number of devices linked to VAWG investigations in 2025
- 19: Rape and serious sexual offence prosecutions in 2024
- 9: Rape and serious sexual offence convictions in 2024
- 47%: Conviction rate of rape and serious sexual offences in 2024
- 53.4%: Conviction rate in adult rape cases in England and Wales in 2023/24 (House of Lords Library)
*Detection rate is the percentage of reported cases where police have been able to take action against a suspect, such as charging them, summoning them to court, or otherwise resolving the case.
