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.
Politics live: Starmer to unveil ‘first steps’ for Labour government
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.
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Politics
Angela Rayner promises flagship workers’ law next month as she pledges ‘things can get better’
Angela Rayner has promised to bring Labour’s flagship workers’ rights bill to parliament next month as she told her party’s conference: “Things can get better if we make the right choices.”
The government has faced criticism in recent weeks over its pessimistic messaging around the economy, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warning October’s Budget would be “painful” in order to deal with the £22bn “black hole” he claims was left by the Conservatives.
But while his deputy said the party “can’t wish our problems away”, she said “hope won” when Labour achieved its landslide at the last election, adding: “Change has begun.”
Politics live: Rayner speaks at Labour conference
Speaking on the conference floor on the first full day of Labour’s annual gathering, Ms Rayner said: “Let me be blunt. We can’t wish our problems away. We have to face them. That’s the difference between opposition and government.
“But… things can get better if we make the right choices. Sustained economic growth is the only way to improve the lives of working people, and we’re fixing the foundations to put Britain back on the path to growth. No more talking, but doing.”
The deputy prime minister reiterated her party’s plans to improve renters’ rights, including ending no-fault evictions “for good”, as well as promising a “devolution revolution” in the north of England, and the “biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation”.
But some of the biggest cheers from delegates came over her long-trailed plan to increase workers’ rights across the country, with her promising to bring the Employment Rights Bill to the Commons in October.
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Concerns have been raised over the legislation by some in the business community, with an Institute of Directors’ survey earlier this month citing the bill as a reason for pessimism among firms who fear the impact on their operations.
But the government has sought to play down any divide, and held several roundtables with company leaders in recent weeks to allay their fears.
Championing the bill, Ms Rayner said: “They said we couldn’t do it. Some tried to stop it in its tracks. But after years of opposition, we are on the verge of historic legislation to make work more secure, make it more family friendly, go further and faster to close the gender pay gap, ensure rights are enforced and trade unions are strengthened.
“That means repealing the Tories’ anti-worker laws and new rights for union reps too. A genuine living wage and sick pay for the lowest earners, banning exploitative zero-hour contracts and unpaid internships, ending fire and rehire. And we will bring in basic rights from day one on the job.
“This is our plan to make work pay, and it’s coming to a workplace near you.”
Concluding her speech, the deputy prime minister said: “On 4 July, the people entrusted us with the task of change and hope won. Now is our moment, not just to say, but to do.
“Labour governments of the past took on this same challenge at a time when Britain desperately needed change. They delivered a better Britain when the odds were stacked against them.
“And that is exactly what this Labour government must deliver once again. So conference, let’s get on with it.”
Angela Rayner will set out measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould in her speech at the Labour Party conference.
The deputy prime minister, who is also the housing secretary, will commit to “building homes fit for the future” when she opens the party’s first annual gathering since winning the general election.
The package will include bringing forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan this autumn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.
Deadly cladding remains on more than half of all residential blocks of flats identified as at risk since the Grenfell fire in 2017.
The issue has come back into the spotlight following the conclusion of the inquiry into the tragedy, which found that “systematic dishonesty” contributed to the blaze that killed 72 people.
The announcement of the acceleration plan was thin on detail, but the government said it would go “further and faster to fix unsafe cladding and make existing homes safe”.
Other measures Ms Rayner will announce on Sunday include consulting on a new “decent homes standard” for the social and private rented sectors, and a new law to make landlords respond to complaints about disrepair within legally binding timescales.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
These have already been announced as part of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which builds on long-awaited legislation that was promised by the Tories but ultimately shelved ahead of the general election.
The law regarding repairs will be named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died as a direct result of exposure to mould in the social home his family rented in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
Awaab Ishak
The Conservatives first proposed Awaab’s Law to cover the social rented sector, but Labour will extend it to cover the private sector in a move they say will help tenants in 746,000 homes with reported serious hazards secure faster repairs.
Commenting ahead of her speech, Ms Rayner, who has also pledged to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years, said: “Just because Britain isn’t working at the moment, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed.
“We will deliver for working people and, in doing so, show that politics can change lives.
“This Labour government is taking a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe, and warm.”
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‘All MPs take gifts and donations’
The speech comes as a donations row threatens to overshadow the optimistic mood of the party’s first conference while in government for 15 years.
The prime minister has come under scrutiny over the past week for the more than £100,000 worth of gifts he has accepted, including tickets to football matches, concerts and luxury clothes.
Following days of press coverage on the issue, it emerged on Friday that Sir Keir and his most senior ministers – Ms Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves – will no longer accept donations to pay for clothes.
On Saturday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News that there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by her colleagues but “we don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes”.
She defended the prime minister’s actions as being within the rules, saying that the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things “so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind”.
She added: “We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.
“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”
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