Sharing Sexual Images Offences 2020 to 2024
Publication Number: 1003
FOI Number: 20442
Information Request
Please could you provide us with the numbers in relation to the following information, for the period 31st January 2023 to 30th January 2024, concerning Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress under Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act (2015) where the victim is aged 18 or older:
- Reported cases
- Arrests
- Outcomes:
- No further action (with further detail, if possible)
- Charges
- Other resolutions
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police does hold information relating to your request.
Second Duty – See below.
Fact – Not applicable.
Exemption – Not applicable.
Caveat: The information is correct as at 05 July 2024.
Please note the following:
- Data extracted from Athena to show all offences with a created date between 31/01/2023 and 30/01/2024, where the home office classification has been recorded as 008/71.
- Data in this report is correct as of 05/07/2024. Figures are generally drawn from live databases of records which is subject to change as investigations progress. Data is also subject to quality assurance processes which can result in modifications. Over time the approach to collating data can change as a result of adjustments to systems, legislation, policy, procedure, and other factors. Where changes have been made and an updated dataset used, detail will be provided.
|
Outcome Type |
Count |
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
29 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
63 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
83 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
40 |
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
18 |
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
4 |
|
Type 21 - Further investigation resulting from crime report which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal action against the suspect is not in the public interest - police decision. |
2 |
|
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action. |
15 |
|
Type 3 - Caution Adult |
5 |
|
Type 8 - Community resolution (Crime) |
1 |
|
Active Investigation |
12 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from several sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
FOI Number: 20477
Information Request
- Between 1st February 2024 and 30th June 2024, how many reports did your police force receive alleging the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘fake porn' or 'deepfake porn' (covered by the Online Safety Act 2023). Please include the number of alleged offences reported as well as the number of individuals i.e. if there were multiple reported offences against one individual.
- Between 1st February 2024 and 30th June 2024, how many times did your police force charge someone under the Online Safety Act with the offence of sharing explicit images or videos that have been digitally manipulated to look like someone else without their consent, commonly known as ‘deepfake porn' although that term is not in the legislation. Please include the number of charges as well as the number of individuals i.e. if one individual was charged with multiple offences.
For clarity and to help you locate the information, I am asking for charges under the following law, Section 66B, sexual offences Act:
66B
- Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—
(a) A intentionally shares a photograph or film which shows, or appears to show, another person (B) in an intimate state,
(b) B does not consent to the sharing of the photograph or film, and
(c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents.
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police does hold information relating to your request.
Second Duty – See below.
Fact – Not applicable.
Exemption – Not applicable.
Our Response
Caveat: The information is correct as at 30 July 2024.
Please note the following:
- The data was obtained from the crime universe, based on offence codes 088/15 (Sharing intimate photograph or film to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or for sexual gratification/ threaten to share intimate photograph or film) and 175/08 (Share photograph or film of person in intimate state without consent).
- These offence codes cover Section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act.
- The incident summary for each offence was manually reviewed in order to identify offences where 'deepfake' images were used.
- Part one of this request relates to offences committed between 01/02/2024 and 30/06/2024 inclusive.
- Part two of this request relates to offences disposed between 01/02/2024 and 30/06/2024 inclusive.
- Essex Police received 17 reports that matched the above criteria within the dates specified. The reports were against 17 different victims.
- Essex Police did not charge anyone for offences that match the specified criteria within the specified dates.
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from several sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
FOI Number: 19925
Information Request
- The number of reports of revenge porn (disclosure of sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress) received each year between 2017 and 2024
- The number of revenge porn cases in which alleged victims were unwilling or unable to contribute to police efforts to prosecute the alleged offender
- The number of convictions made for revenge porn
- The number of reports of threats to share photographs or films which show, or appear to show, someone in an intimate state
- This would be a breach of Section 188(4) of the Online Safety Act 2023
- The number of cases involving threats to share intimate photographs or films in which alleged victims were unwilling or unable to contribute to police efforts to prosecute the alleged offender
- The number of convictions made in cases involving threats to share intimate photographs or films
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police holds some of the information relating to your request
Second Duty – See below
Fact - It is not possible to extract and verify all the data in your request
Exemption - Section 12(1)
Refusal - Section 17(5) of FOIA
Reasoning – Essex Police are unable to provide a comprehensive data report to meet this request as the data is not available in a readily extractable format, nor is it held on a central log.
In respect of Questions 3 & 6, Essex Police are unable to provide the number of convictions in relation to the offences within this request, as this information is held by HM Courts & Tribunals Services (HMCTS) who hold such data. This request would entail manually extracting the requested data, manually searching each relevant case / crime record, cross referring on the investigation file as the process of referring to the CPS will be contained within each file and then the Police National Computer (PNC) to establish the outcome and whether the case resulted in a prosecution.
In respect of Questions 2 & 4, all of the incidents have been reported and classified under Home Office Counting Rules for Recorded Crime with the Full Offence Code Title ‘Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress’. Therefore, it is not possible to determine which incidents specifically involve/include threats to share private sexual photographs or films, or indeed appear to show someone in an intimate state.
Each crime / incident file would need to be examined and a manual review of each to determine the nature or precise detail of the offence, which may be held in free text investigation notes, in order to respond to this request, this would take an estimated 60 minutes per case file – this would take considerable resource to achieve and, therefore, is regarded as excessive and would exceed the time and cost limits under the Act.
To establish if information is held would, therefore, as set out above, exceed the time and cost limits under the FOIA and would qualify as the creation of data as the results cannot be processed by means of purely sorting or filtering data sources or running a database query tool. There is no requirement under the act to create data purely to answer FOI requests.
Duty to assist – When refusing a request on cost (Section 12(1)/12(2)), outside of the act and in effort to assist we can provide the following
Essex Police can report as follows:
Caveat: The statements, data and links are correct as at 25/04/2024
Questions 1 & 5:
The number of reports of revenge porn (disclosure of sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress) received each year between 2017 and 2024
The number of cases involving threats to share intimate photographs or films in which alleged victims were unwilling or unable to contribute to police efforts to prosecute the alleged offender
Response:
The following links reflect the period up to 2020:
Revenge Porn Offence - 008/71 by Victim Age Group & Outcomes - 2015 to 2021 | Essex Police
Revenge Porn Offences 2019 to 2022 | Essex Police
The next group of tables are recently reported and reflect the period 2020 to March 2024 – additional data components have been included that may be of interest on Age Group but also further tables set out below, are on the connected offence of Blackmail:
Notes:
- Offence titled ‘Disclose private photographs with intent to cause distress’was changed to ‘Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or for sexual gratification’ from 31/01/2024. Both Offence titles have been included in the results.
Table of Outcomes by Year:
The full offence titles are:
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress.
Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or for sexual gratification
|
Outcome Type |
2020-2021 |
2021-2022 |
2022-2023 |
2023-2024 |
Grand Total |
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
13 |
20 |
18 |
9 |
60 |
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
29 |
31 |
32 |
24 |
116 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
48 |
81 |
76 |
50 |
255 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
71 |
104 |
108 |
66 |
349 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
18 |
43 |
45 |
38 |
144 |
|
Type 1A - Charged/Summons - alternate offence. Offender has been charged under the alternate offence rule. |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
2 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
16 |
|
Type 21 - Further investigation resulting from crime report which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal action against the suspect is not in the public interest - police decision. |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
|
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action. |
3 |
4 |
10 |
8 |
25 |
|
Type 3 - Caution Adult |
6 |
8 |
10 |
3 |
27 |
|
Type 8 - Community resolution (Crime) |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
|
Type 9 - Prosecution Not In the Public Interest (CPS) |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Type AF – Action Fraud record filed temporarily awaiting result from master AF investigation |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
(blank) |
|||||
|
Grand Total |
193 |
300 |
313 |
204 |
1010 |
|
Still Under Investigation |
|
|
|
|
31 |
The following tables set out the total of 803 crimes reported by Age Group where “WEBCAM”, “WEB CAM”, “VIDEO” or “SOCIAL MEDIA” appear in the free text summary field:
|
Fiscal Year |
Under 16 |
16 to 18 |
Over 18 |
Not Recorded |
Total |
|
2020-2021 |
6 |
19 |
97 |
1 |
123 |
|
2021-2022 |
14 |
28 |
180 |
2 |
224 |
|
2022-2023 |
28 |
38 |
157 |
4 |
227 |
|
2023-2024 |
22 |
33 |
171 |
3 |
229 |
|
Total |
70 |
118 |
605 |
10 |
803 |
Table of Outcomes by Year:
The full offence title is either Blackmail or Attempted Blackmail.
|
Fiscal Year |
2020-2021 Total |
2021-2022 Total |
2022-2023 Total |
2023-2024 Total |
Grand Total |
|
Outcome Type |
|||||
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
1 |
11 |
12 |
||
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
29 |
36 |
46 |
27 |
138 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
8 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
20 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
7 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
21 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
76 |
174 |
161 |
178 |
589 |
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
|
Type 3A - Caution Adult - alternate offence. Offender has been given a simple caution under the alternate offences rule. |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Grand Total |
123 |
224 |
227 |
212 |
786 |
|
Still Under Investigation |
|
|
|
|
17 |
The following table sets out the breakdown of 1041 offences by Age Group:
|
Fiscal Year |
Under 16 |
16 to 18 |
Over 18 |
Not Recorded |
Total |
|
2020-2021 |
8 |
17 |
167 |
1 |
193 |
|
2021-2022 |
13 |
30 |
256 |
2 |
301 |
|
2022-2023 |
28 |
11 |
274 |
2 |
315 |
|
2023-2024 |
17 |
24 |
189 |
2 |
232 |
|
Total |
66 |
82 |
886 |
7 |
1041 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
You may wish to contact the HMCTS to see if they can provide information on the numbers of prosecutions for the above offences:
HM Courts & Tribunals Service - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In addition, you may wish to determine any offences that may be of interest that fall under: Section 188(4) of the Online Safety Act 2023 In which case, please refer to the following link which provides principles and requirements in regard to reporting recorded crime received from victims. Police recorded crime statistics are based on a notifiable list as set out by the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR). So whilst Essex Police systems do record individual cases the system is not designed for the production of all statistical information but set to meet the HOCR principles.
Counting rules for recorded crime:
Counting rules for recorded crime - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
You may wish to refine or resubmit a new FOI request in respect of the Online Safety Act if you have an interest in specific recordable offences.