One in 20 crimes result in charge or summons

Home Office figures show there were 140,329 crimes reported to Northumbria Police in the year to September 2022, with 7,378 (5.3%) of them resulting in a charge or summons.

This was down from 7.8% in 2021.

Possession of weapons offences had the highest prosecution rate in Northumbria – with 33.3% of crimes leading to a charge or summons – but sex offences had the lowest, at just 2.5%, down from 7.8% in 2021.

Across England and Wales, rape had the lowest charge rate across all crimes, with just 1.6% of 70,633 offences recorded by police leading to prosecution last year.

The data shows more than 40% of investigations were closed because the victim did not support further police action.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of charity Victim Support, said: “A huge rise in recorded sexual offences comes as the percentage of cases seeing justice has plummeted to an abysmal new low. The system is in crisis.”

For all types of crime, the figures show just 5.5% of offences in England and Wales resulted in a charge or summons in the year to September 2022 – down from six per cent a year before.

Minister for Policing, Crime and Fire Chris Philp pointed to reductions in a number of different types of crime, such as burglaries, serious violence and murder.

But he said: “There is much more to do" to protect women and girls.”