Graphic: rape conviction rate by police authority area

Rape victims are to be asked why they feel that they are being failed by the criminal justice system as new research suggests that Britain has the lowest conviction rates in Europe.

The initiative is the first of its kind to be conducted by the policing standards watchdog, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. It is one of a number of new measures by the Home Office, which is concerned that despite huge efforts to encourage more women to report rape, the conviction rate in England and Wales has fallen to 6.5 per cent.

Two decades ago, on a lower level of reporting, the conviction rate was 19 per cent. Scotland has an even lower conviction rate at only 2.9 per cent. The first Europe-wide study of rape conviction rates found that France, by contrast, had a conviction rate of 25 per cent in 2006 despite a steady rise in the reporting of attacks over the past 15 years.

Britain came bottom of 33 countries in the study, which is based on 1,100 case files and takes account of varying official definitions of rape, as well as the different legal processes. It found that the proportion of false allegations was “extremely low” — ranging from 2 per cent to 9 per cent.

A Whitehall source, commenting on Britain’s position at the bottom of the league, said: “It should be higher and we are working to make it higher.”

The study’s author, Liz Kelly, an expert on sexual violence who has advised senior police and the Home Office, criticises a “culture of scepticism” among officers and prosecutors and says that too many people are wedded to the stereotype of the rapist as a violent stranger.

The project to ask victims about their own experiences will be conducted next year and is part of a nationwide audit of police forces and Crown Prosecution Service performance. It is a significant departure for HMIC, which has focused previously on policing procedures and performance. In another joint initiative by the Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers, a group known as the rape support programme will begin touring the country this month advising police forces on how to implement the latest guidance on rape investigations.

Dave Gee, the former detective chief superintendent who heads the programme, said that Britain’s low conviction rates were partly due to poor evidence gathering and “indifferent attitudes” towards rape by police. “Too often, because of the negative mind at the outset, the case is undermined rather than built up,” he said.

Two rape cases this year highlighted dismissive attitudes among police officers. John Worboys, a London taxi driver, was left free to attack hundreds of women because police officers did not believe victims’ reports of being assaulted. One woman was told that black cab drivers “don’t do that sort of thing”. Only weeks after Worboys was jailed, Kirk Reid was convicted of 26 attacks, including two rapes. Reid had come to the police’s attention 12 times before he was arrested and charged and is thought to have attacked more than 70 women.

Professor Kelly, of London Metropolitan University, will publish her full report at the end of this month. She said: “The majority of women reporting rape across Europe do not see justice done . . . This is the outcome of the continued influence of stereotypes of rape, rape victims and rapists at all stages of the legal process and a failure to modernise investigation and prosecution practices.”

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