Skip to main content

Sexual Offences

Volume 462: debated on Monday 25 June 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases of sexual assault were reported in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years (a) in total, (b) in each parliamentary constituency and (c) in each council area. (145336)

I have been advised by the PSNI that statistics are collected by District Command Units which are coterminous with council areas. These statistics are set out in the following table. The data are not collated by other areas and therefore not available broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Sexual offences recorded by PSNI

Sexual assaults

PSNI District Command Units

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

Antrim

22

33

44

Ards

39

57

43

East Belfast

66

46

63

North Belfast

75

72

66

South Belfast

94

90

99

West Belfast

45

38

45

Carrickfergus

24

14

25

Castlereagh

15

31

28

Larne

27

14

16

Lisburn

65

69

78

Newtownabbey

49

51

54

North Down

40

49

46

Urban region total

561

564

607

Armagh

26

26

25

Ballymena

46

58

48

Ballymoney

13

13

14

Banbridge

21

18

19

Coleraine

42

58

Cookstown

12

17

14

Craigavon

46

67

54

Down

31

42

32

Dungannon and South Tyrone

28

21

28

Fermanagh

31

24

43

Foyle

115

139

135

Limavady

25

23

32

Magherafelt

18

21

24

Moyle

11

12

6

Newry and Mourne

36

35

47

Omagh

36

38

49

Strabane

28

23

35

Rural region total

565

635

647

Northern Ireland

1,126

1,199

1,254

Note:Sexual assault includes the following offences: rape, attempted rape, indecent assault on a female, indecent assault on a female child, indecent assault on a male, indecent assault on a male child.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of serious sexual crimes reported in Northern Ireland resulted in conviction in the courts in each of the last three years. (145462)

Data relating to the number and percentage of serious sexual crimes reported that result in a conviction are not available as figures relating to recorded crime are collected on a different basis from those of prosecutions and convictions. Recorded crime figures relate to the number of notifiable crimes reported whereas prosecutions and convictions refer to the number of offenders who have been subsequently charged for offences. In addition, recorded crime figures incorporate each offence as initially recorded and these may differ from the offence for which a suspect or suspects are subsequently proceeded against.

Table 1-3 gives the number of prosecutions and convictions for indictable sexual offences by individual offence and percentage of prosecutions that resulted in a conviction.

Data cover the calendar years 2003 to 2005, the latest available years and are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.

Table 1: Number of prosecutions and convictions and percentage convicted for indictable sexual offences by individual offence 2003

Offence

Prosecutions

Convictions

Percentage

Rape

26

8

31

Attempted rape1

5

2

40

Buggery

2

1

50

Gross indecency with child

8

6

75

Buggery with boy under 16 years of age

1

1

100

Buggery with woman

1

0

0

Buggery with girl

1

0

0

Gross indecency with a male under 21 years

1

1

100

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14

1

1

100

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17

5

5

100

Indecent assault on female

90

57

63

Indecent assault on male

11

6

55

Indecent assault on female child

7

3

43

Indecent assault on male child

1

0

0

Indecent exposure with intent to assault a female

6

2

33

Bigamy

2

2

100

Distributing indecent photographs of children

1

0

0

Possessing indecent photograph of a child

3

2

67

Taking indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photographs of children

10

9

90

Copying indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph(s) of children

1

1

100

Taking indecent photographs

1

1

100

Total

184

108

59

1 Includes assault with intent to rape.

Table 2: Number of prosecutions and convictions and percentage convicted for indictable sexual offences by individual offence 2004

Offence

Prosecutions

Convictions

Percentage

Rape

29

15

52

Attempted rape1

8

3

38

Gross indecency with child

5

3

60

Buggery with male person, 16 years or over without consent

1

0

0

Buggery with boy under 16 years of age

11

6

55

Buggery with woman

1

1

100

Buggery with girl

3

1

33

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14

4

4

100

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17

3

2

67

Indecent assault on female

89

57

64

Indecent assault on male

20

17

85

Indecent assault on female child

8

3

38

Indecent assault on male child

6

4

67

Indecent exposure with intent to assault a female

3

2

67

Distributing indecent photographs of children

1

1

100

Possession of indecent or pseudo photograph(s) with a view to distribution

1

1

100

Taking indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photographs of children

9

8

89

Copying indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph(s) of children

2

2

100

Making indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph (s) of children

7

7

100

Total

211

137

65

1 Includes assault with intent to rape.

Table 3: Number of prosecutions and convictions and percentage convicted for indictable sexual offences by individual offence 2005

Offence

Prosecutions

Convictions

Percentage

Rape

21

4

19

Attempted rape1

9

4

44

Gross indecency with child

10

6

60

Buggery with boy under 16 years of age

3

1

33

Buggery with girl

2

0

0

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14

4

3

75

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17

4

4

100

Permitting girl under 17 to use premises for intercourse

1

1

100

Incest by man

1

1

100

Forcibly abducting a female with intent to carnally know her

1

0

0

Indecent assault on female

85

51

60

Indecent assault on male

16

11

69

Indecent assault on female child

20

18

90

Indecent assault on male child

8

5

63

Indecent exposure with intent to assault a female

5

2

40

Exposure

3

3

100

Voyeurism

2

2

100

Sex offender failing to notify police of change of address

7

6

86

Breach of interim Sex Offender' s Prevention Order

1

1

100

Bigamy

1

1

100

Distributing indecent photographs of children

2

1

50

Possessing indecent photograph of a child

2

0

0

Taking indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photographs of children

1

1

100

Making indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph (s) of children

11

10

91

Total

220

136

62

1 Includes assault with intent to rape.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted of sexual offences in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years, broken down by offence. (145486)

Table 1 gives the number of prosecutions and convictions for sexual offences by individual offence.

Data cover the calendar years 2003 to 2005 and are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.

Table 1: number of prosecutions and convictions for sexual offences by individual offence 2003-05

2003

2004

2005

Offence

Prosecutions

Convictions

Prosecutions

Convictions

Prosecutions

Convictions

Rape

26

8

29

15

21

4

Attempted rape1

5

2

8

3

9

4

Buggery

2

1

0

0

0

0

Gross indecency with child

8

6

5

3

10

6

Buggery with male person, 16 years or over without consent

0

0

1

0

0

0

Buggery with boy under 16 years of age

1

1

11

6

3

1

Buggery with woman

1

0

1

1

0

0

Buggery with girl

1

0

3

1

2

0

Gross indecency with a male under 21 years

1

1

0

0

0

0

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 14

1

1

4

4

4

3

Unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 17

5

5

3

2

4

4

Permitting girl under 17 to use premises for intercourse

0

0

0

0

1

1

Incest by man

0

0

0

0

1

1

Forcibly abducting a female with intent to carnally know her

0

0

0

0

1

0

Indecent assault on female

90

57

89

57

85

51

Indecent assault on male

11

6

20

17

16

11

Indecent assault on female child

7

3

8

3

20

18

Indecent assault on male child

1

0

6

4

8

5

Indecent exposure with intent to assault a female

6

2

3

2

5

2

Exposure

0

0

0

0

3

3

Voyeurism

0

0

0

0

2

2

Sex offender failing to notify police of change of address

0

0

0

0

7

6

Breach of interim Sex Offender’s Prevention Order

0

0

0

0

1

1

Bigamy

2

2

0

0

1

1

Distributing indecent photographs of children

1

0

1

1

2

1

Possessing indecent photographs of children

1

1

1

1

2

2

Possessing indecent photograph of a child

3

2

0

0

2

0

Possession of indecent or pseudo photograph(s) with a view to distribution

0

0

1

1

0

0

Taking indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photographs of children

10

9

9

8

1

1

Copying indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph(s) of children

1

1

2

2

0

0

Making indecent photograph(s) or pseudo photograph (s) of children

0

0

7

7

11

10

Taking indecent photographs

1

1

0

0

0

0

Failure to provide information to police on sex offences

6

6

6

4

3

3

Brothel keeping

0

0

1

1

3

3

Soliciting

0

0

1

1

0

0

Total

191

115

220

144

228

144

1 Includes assault with intent to rape.