Exclusive: Police face ‘super-complaint’ over ‘inhumane’ delays in sexual offences investigations
Some survivors say ‘biggest regret’ has been reporting abuse in the first place, as Home Office data shows more than 37,000 sexual offences investigations have taken over three years to be resolved.
By Jamie Roberton
A rare super-complaint has been launched against police for “inhumane” delays in investigations into sexual offences, Channel 4 News can first reveal.
An estimated 37,188 sexual offences investigations have taken over three years to provide an outcome, according to new data spanning the last decade, obtained through the Home Office.
The volume of investigations exceeding a three-year period – between initial report and outcome, whether that is a charge or a decision to take no further against a suspect – has soared by 652% since 2014.
Some survivors waited more than nine years for their case to be closed.
Campaigners condemned the situation as “untenable”, warning it was a breach of survivors’ human rights and police risked having to pay out significant sums in compensation.
They also raised alarm at the length of time that potential rapists were being left unmonitored in the community during “excessively lengthy” police investigations.
The super-complaint – aimed at triggering a systemic response to harmful patterns in policing across England and Wales – comes ahead of the full publication of the government’s strategy to combat violence against women and girls.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) told Channel 4 News that it would assess the super-complaint alongside the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct.
‘Biggest regret is reporting it in first place’
Ocean, not her real name, reported to police in 2020 that she had been sexually abused from the age of 12 by someone close to her family.
“My biggest regret has been reporting it in the first place – the justice system is skewered against survivors of sexual violence.”
– ‘Ocean’
She is still waiting for a charging decision nearly six years on, with critical phone evidence also lost by officers during the process.
She told Channel 4 News: “My biggest regret has been reporting it in the first place – the justice system is skewered against survivors of sexual violence”.
Another woman said she remained “in limbo” having reported to police in 2022, adding: “The way I have been treated has left me feeling as though they are simply pushing for me to give up.
”No one should be left to feel invisible and abandoned inside a system that is meant to protect them.”
‘Inhumane’ treatment
The super-complaint – submitted by Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, Rape Crisis England and Wales, Centre for Women’s Justice and Bindmans LLP – is unprecedented in the number of organisations raising concern and escalating the specific issue of the delays facing survivors.
The joint complainants accused police forces of routine de-prioritisation of sexual offence cases, poor case management, inadequate working relationships with the Crown Prosecution Service and failings in the use of bail for alleged perpetrators.
The failings amounted to “inhumane” treatment of survivors, the super-complaint said.
At the start of April 2025, there were 13,949 sexual offences investigations that were still ongoing having been open for more than three years – with 1,716 ongoing for more than seven years.
Campaigners highlighted that this is the same amount of time that it will take for a child to finish primary school.
‘Torturous’
Ellie Ball, manager at Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre, said the current experience of survivors was “torturous”, with some seeing their perpetrators die before ever facing justice because of prolonged delays.
She said: ”The public need to understand quite how bad things have got in the criminal justice system and survivors considering reporting need to know what these worst case scenarios can look like.
”What message does it also send a perpetrator if you can be reported by your victim and then nothing happens to you for five or six years? I imagine that might embolden some people”.
Two-thirds of survivors surveyed as part of the super-complaint said they were doubtful that they would ever report to police again.
”What message does it also send a perpetrator if you can be reported by your victim and then nothing happens to you for five or six years?”
– Ellie Ball
India Cooper, public law solicitor at Bindmans LLP, has represented multiple women who have now received police damages for the length of time their complaint has taken to investigate.
She said: “We’re really concerned that these excessive delays may amount to breaches of many survivors’ human rights by denying them an effective investigation and – in some cases – preventing justice being done altogether.”
‘National emergency’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described the scale of violence against women and girls as a “national emergency”, as she announced plans to install dedicated rape and sexual offence investigation teams in every police force in England and Wales by 2029.
The measures will form part of the government’s strategy to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, which will be announced in full this week having been delayed three times already.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
“We have declared violence against women and girls as a national emergency, and are deploying the largest crackdown in British history to halve it within a decade.
“Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide, as all police forces will introduce specialist rape and sexual offence investigation teams. This will replace the outdated system where police did not have specialist knowledge to investigate these crimes, leaving vile predators free to walk the streets.”
A spokesperson for HMICFRS said:
“Rape and serious sexual offences are devastating crimes that can have lifelong impacts. Many victims and survivors struggle to come forward, being unable to access support or out of fear of not being believed. It is crucial that the police, together with other public services, do all they can to respond effectively.
“Alongside the College of Policing and Independent Office for Police Conduct, we will jointly assess this super-complaint.”
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