FOI 69/25 Non-fatal strangulation
Enquiry Reference: FOI 69-25
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.
I would like to know how many offences have been recorded under the non-fatal strangulation offence (s75A Serious Crime Act 2015 (as amended by Domestic Abuse Act 2021), since it was introduced in June 2022. Please could you tell me the following:
- How many crimes of non-fatal strangulation (s75A Serious Crime Act 2015) have you recorded between 7 June 2022 to the 31 Dec 2024, broken down by year? Please include all occurrences, including where this is not the primary offence.
- a) Number of crimes recorded of HO class 008/77 - Non-fatal strangulation and suffocation.
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
265 |
447 |
305 |
- Please also provide a count of all other offences associated with the investigations from Q1, i.e. other secondary or primary offences that were recorded at the same time, for example if it was recorded alongside a sexual offence. Please list full offence titles and total count these of linked offences over the time period.
- a) Number of associated crimes to those crimes in Q1 by broad crime type.
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
All Other Theft Offences |
1 |
5 |
1 |
|
Burglary Business and Community |
|
1 |
|
|
Burglary Residential |
1 |
||
|
Criminal Damage |
7 |
9 |
4 |
|
Drug Possession |
5 |
9 |
9 |
|
Drug Trafficking |
1 |
||
|
Misc Crimes Against Society |
2 |
8 |
5 |
|
Other Sexual Offences |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
Public Order Offences |
7 |
8 |
2 |
|
Rape |
7 |
4 |
3 |
|
Residential Burglary of a Home |
|
2 |
|
|
Robbery |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Shoplifting |
2 |
3 |
|
|
Stalking and Harassment |
62 |
122 |
46 |
|
Vehicle Offences |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Violence With Injury |
20 |
37 |
22 |
|
Violence Without Injury |
12 |
40 |
43 |
|
Weapons Possession Offences |
|
2 |
|
|
Grand Total |
129 |
255 |
139 |
Please note that some crimes have multiple associated crimes.
Also, there are continuous changes to the National Crime Recording Standards which impact on recording, such as on the primary recording rule in April 2023.
- For all of the investigations in Q1, please extract and send the redacted crime MO.
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1 (1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Sec 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held. Where exemptions are relied upon s17 of FOIA requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which: a) states that fact b) specifies the exemption(s) in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
Having made enquiries within the Force to taking into account the time already spent collating this information to redact the information taking a minimum of 3 mins per record this would take over 50 hours which is in excess of the appropriate time stipulated by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer on the 18th Of October 2004, that is, eighteen hours. This falls under the exemption of 'Compliance exceeding the appropriate limit' covered by Section 12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and as such this work could not be undertaken.
Therefore, please treat this as a refusal notice under S17 of the Freedom of information Act.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act we have a duty to provide advice and assistance however on this occasion we cannot offer any suggestion on how you could refine this request.
- Please provide a separate breakdown of total victims and suspects count by a) age group (categories: Aged 15 years and under · Aged 16 to 24 years · Aged 25 to 34 years · Aged 35 to 49 years · Aged 50 to 64 years · Aged 65 years and over) and b) gender, linked to investigations from Q1.
|
Age of victim |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
0-15 |
14 |
39 |
19 |
|
16-24 |
57 |
89 |
59 |
|
25-34 |
81 |
121 |
68 |
|
35-49 |
77 |
147 |
126 |
|
50-64 |
30 |
43 |
27 |
|
65+ |
5 |
7 |
5 |
|
Not recorded |
1 |
|
Gender of victim |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Female |
234 |
367 |
260 |
|
Male |
30 |
79 |
40 |
|
Not recorded |
5 |
|
Age of suspect |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
0-15 |
5 |
22 |
8 |
|
16-24 |
39 |
59 |
27 |
|
25-34 |
90 |
138 |
104 |
|
35-49 |
90 |
140 |
115 |
|
50-64 |
34 |
60 |
40 |
|
65+ |
6 |
13 |
6 |
|
Not recorded |
1 |
5 |
2 |
|
Gender of suspect |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Female |
18 |
41 |
34 |
|
Male |
246 |
394 |
266 |
|
Not recorded |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Please note that there may be more than one suspect recorded on the crime. As well as this being more than one person, sometimes this is due to data quality issues where there is more than one person profile.
- Please provide a separate breakdown of case outcomes: for non-live cases, by outcome type and total count, for investigations from Q1.
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
1: Charged/Summons |
41 |
89 |
54 |
|
3: Adult Caution |
1 |
||
|
10: Police - formal action not in public interest |
1 |
||
|
12: Named suspect too ill to prosecute |
1 |
3 |
2 |
|
13: Named suspect but victim/key witness deceased or too ill |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
14: Victim declines/unable to support action to identify offender |
3 |
10 |
10 |
|
15: CPS - named suspect, victim supports but evidential difficulties |
12 |
26 |
9 |
|
15: Police - named suspect, victim supports but evidential difficulties |
25 |
69 |
30 |
|
16: Victim declines/withdraws support - named suspect identified |
163 |
217 |
166 |
|
17: Suspect identified but prosecution time limit expired |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
18: Investigation complete no suspect identified |
2 |
8 |
4 |
|
20: Other body/agency has investigation primacy |
3 |
11 |
4 |
|
22: Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, not in public interest to take further action |
10 |
9 |
2 |
- Please provide a separate breakdown of the total number of arrests where non-fatal strangulation is part of the of the arrest offences.
Number of custody records where one of the arrest reasons is 008/77 strangulation.
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
165 |
474 |
449 |
Having made enquiries within the Force we have supplied the above information as a gesture of goodwill outside of the act, as if one part of the request engages a Section 12 response, the whole request will engage a Section 12 response. The reason being is due to the fact that locating, retrieving and extracting any further information would only add to the already exceeded time obligations.
Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Decision Maker