Almost 900 sexual offences committed by people on bail – as charities warn of ‘disastrous consequences of broken courts’
Almost 900 sexual offences were committed between 2020 and 2022 by people on bail, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
A Freedom of Information request by Sky News found the figure totalled 887 for the three years and had risen annually, with 184 offences committed in 2020, increasing to 326 in 2021 and 377 in 2022.
Sky News was refused the data for 2023 ahead of broader crime statistics being published on Thursday morning, and has now been told to submit another FOI request to access the information – meaning at least 20 days until the figures are revealed.
However, the trend indicates the number of offences is likely to have tipped over the 1,000 mark for the four-year period.
Charities and legal professionals warned the numbers were a “disastrous consequence” of a “broken” court system, which is seeing those on bail facing record delays before their cases are heard, putting them “at risk of reoffending for extended periods”.
The statistics come after claims defendants deemed “lower risk” could be released on police bail without a court hearing as part of emergency measures triggered on Wednesday to tackle prison overcrowding – with hundreds of bail hearings being delayed in case the defendant is placed on remand but has no prison cell to go to.
An MoJ source told Sky News it would be a decision for the police if they chose to release someone, not an order from the department.
But with police cells being used to house prisoners in overcrowded areas – another emergency procedure triggered last week – there could be pressure to make room.
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The chief executive of The Survivors Trust – a national organisation helping rape and sexual abuse support services – said people who had been attacked by those on bail felt “let down” by the government.
“There can be a lot of fear exactly around that happening,” Fay Maxted told Sky News. “Many, many survivors [of sexual offences and other crimes] report them because they want to protect others.
“They’re not driven by revenge or anything, but they are wanting to make things better and hoping to make the community a safer place.
“So it’s devastating to then find that actually the person that you made the report about is out and about and in the community.”
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Ms Maxted laid much of the blame at the door of delays in the court system, leaving people on bail for longer, and “creating a lot of disastrous consequences”.
“People can be questioned and then released on bail, and it might be a year, it might be two years before they appear in court,” she said. “It’s really unacceptable. We’ve got a broken system at the moment.
“And I’m not always sure that everyone appreciates the impact of sexual violence and abuse – the potentially lifelong impact on someone’s health and well-being.”
The charity chief’s concerns were backed up by the Criminal Bar Association, who said the figures showed “a systemic failure” of government to fix court delays.
Analysis from the organisation used the average time for a rape trial with a bailed defendant to conclude after charge as an example – saying it had risen 80% in five years to around 18 months, with many court dates now being fixed in summer 2026 for charges made last year or early in 2024.
Case backlog in crown courts since 2010
Chair of the CBA, Tana Adkin KC, told Sky News: “The number of sexual offences committed by those on bail for previous untried offences more than doubled between 2020 and 2022.
“This indicates a systemic failure to deliver on a core government duty to protect all citizens from harm.”
She pointed to a lack of investment in the criminal barristers required to prosecute and defend cases saying, without it, charges could not be “swiftly tried” in court and there would be “dire consequences for the innocent unable to clear their name and the culpable at risk of reoffending on bail for extended periods”.
Ms Adkin added: “Years of underfunding in the criminal justice professionals tasked with ensuring offences once charged are litigated has real-life consequences for defendants, witnesses, complainants and victims as well as their families, all caught up in the historic delays in our criminal courts.”
Chair of the Criminal Bar Association Tana Adkin KC
The Survivors Trust is calling for sexual offences to be tried in a court with a panel of judges and lay-people advisers to help victims through the process, as well as speed it up – and Ms Maxted believes this would also cut down the number of offences committed while people are on bail.
“You wouldn’t want a situation where there are unfair trials,” she said. “There has got to be a process where everyone is able to present their case.
“But at the moment we are leaving victims vulnerable and then leaving communities vulnerable and the statistics are proving this.
“If someone’s already been arrested and then released on bail and then they re-offended, how much more do they have to do to prove that they are a danger in the community?”
The MoJ statistics revealed through Sky News’s Freedom of Information request also showed 7,693 offences of violence against a person – ranging from assault to murder – were committed between 2020 and 2022 by someone who was on bail.
And there were a further 17,243 theft offences, along with 1,137 robbery offences, and 411 incidents of criminal damage and arson.
The figures will come as an embarrassment to a department already under pressure over its handling of not just the courts system, but the prison service as well.
As well as the changes to bail hearings mentioned above, ministers have issued orders that prisoners serving sentences of less than four years be freed up to 70 days early from this month, among predictions male institutions could be full by June.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Rishi Sunak said no one would be released “if they were deemed a threat to the public” or had committed a “serious offence”.
But Labour accused him of “misleading” the Commons, pointing to fresh reports from the chief inspector of prisons that some prisoners who had already been let out were a “risk to children” and had a “history of stalking, domestic abuse, and being subject to a restraining order”.
Sky News has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.
A nationwide police operation to track down those in grooming gangs has been announced by the Home Office.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) will target those who have sexually exploited children as part of a grooming gang, and will investigate cases that were not previously progressed.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement: “The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children.
“Not enough people listened to them then. That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now.
“More than 800 grooming gang cases have already been identified by police after I asked them to look again at cases which had closed too early.
“Now we are asking the National Crime Agency to lead a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators and bring them to justice.”
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Starmer to launch new grooming gang inquiry
The NCA will work in partnership with police forces around the country and specialist officers from the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, Operation Hydrant – which supports police forces to address all complex and high-profile cases of child sexual abuse – and the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer announced a national inquiry into child sex abuse on Saturday, ahead of the release of a government-requested audit into the scale of grooming gangs across the country, which concluded a nationwide probe was necessary.
The prime minister previously argued a national inquiry was not necessary, but changed his view following an audit into group-based child sexual abuse led by Baroness Casey, set to be published next week.
Ms Cooper is set to address parliament on Monday about the findings of the near 200-page report, which is expected to warn that white British girls were “institutionally ignored for fear of racism”.
One person familiar with the report said it details the institutional failures in treating young girls and cites a decade of lost action from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), set up in 2014 to investigate grooming gangs in Rotherham.
The report is also expected to link illegal immigration with the exploitation of young girls.
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Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said on Saturday that Sir Keir should recognise “he made a mistake and apologise for six wasted months”.
Speaking to Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Chancellor Rachel Reeves refused to say if the government will apologise for dismissing calls for a national public inquiry into grooming gangs.
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Rachel Reeves on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips
She said: “What is the most important thing here? It is the victims, and it’s not people’s hurt feelings about how they have been spoken about.”
Career spy Blaise Metreweli will become the first woman to head MI6 in a “historic appointment”, the prime minister has announced.
She will take over from Sir Richard Moore as the 18th Chief, also known as “C”, when he steps down in the autumn.
“The historic appointment of Blaise Metreweli comes at a time when the work of our intelligence services has never been more vital,” Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement released on Sunday night.
“The United Kingdom is facing threats on an unprecedented scale – be it aggressors who send their spy ships to our waters or hackers whose sophisticated cyber plots seek to disrupt our public services.”
Of the other main spy agencies, GCHQ is also under female command for the first time.
Anne Keast-Butler took on the role in 2023, while MI5 has previously twice been led by a woman.
Until now, a female spy chief had only headed MI6 – also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – in the James Bond movies.
Blaise Metreweli is the first woman to be named head of MI6. Pic: Reuters
Dame Judi Dench held the fictional role – called “M” in the films instead of “C” – between 1995 and 2015.
Ms Metreweli currently serves as “Q”, one of four director generals inside MI6.
The position – also made famous by the James Bond films, with the fictional “Q” producing an array of spy gadgets – means she is responsible for technology and innovation.
Ms Metreweli, a Cambridge graduate, joined MI6 in 1999.
Unlike the outgoing chief, who spent some of his service as a regular diplomat in the foreign office, including as ambassador to Turkey, she has spent her entire career as an intelligence officer.
Much of that time was dedicated to operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.
Ms Metreweli, who is highly regarded by colleagues, also worked as a director at MI5.
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In a statement, she said she was “proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service”.
“MI6 plays a vital role – with MI5 and GCHQ – in keeping the British people safe and promoting UK interests overseas,” she said.
“I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners.”
Sir Richard said: “Blaise is a highly accomplished intelligence officer and leader, and one of our foremost thinkers on technology. I am excited to welcome her as the first female head of MI6.”
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