Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
1. Please tell me the number of recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 recorded between April 3 2017 and October 3 2017.
2. (a) Please tell me the number of disposals under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 recorded between April 3 2017 and January 3 2018.
(b) Please provide a bullet point list of the recorded offences recorded in connection with those disposals.
3. Please provide all the forms of communication (eg. text message, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik etc.) that have been recorded as having been used in connection with recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 between April 3 2017 and October 3 2017 and their prevalence.
4. Please tell me the age of the youngest victim identified in these recorded offences or recorded disposals over this time period.
To be clear, I am only interested in offences under s.15A Sexual Communication with a Child, and I am *not* interested in offences under s.15 Meeting After Grooming.
On the 16th March you then altered your request to the below;
Further to my FOI request concerning the crime of sending a Sexual Message to a Child sent on 9/3/18, I would like to make a number of clarifications:
1.) In all instances, I request the information recorded between 3 April 2017 and 3 January 2018.
2.) When referring to Sec 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as amended by Serious Crime Act 2015 Sec 67, I refer to the Home Office code 71/17.
3.) Regarding question 2 in my original request about disposals, I am asking:
How many incidents under S67/S15A have been dealt with by your force, including:
a.) Where a crime number has been given
b.) Where a person has been charged with this offence but a crime has not been recorded (for example, where a higher crimes has taken precedence)
c.) Where an offence has been established, but no victim identified and therefore no crime recorded.
In Response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
1. 19
2(a). 10
|
2(b). |
|
Causing or inciting a female child under13 to engage in sexual activity - Female Child |
|
Engage in sexual communication with a child |
|
Meeting a female child following sexual grooming etc. - offender 18 or over and victim under 16 |
|
Sexual assault on a female |
3.
|
Platform |
Count |
|
Facebook Messenger |
6 |
|
Snapchat |
4 |
|
X-Box |
3 |
|
Dating Website |
1 |
|
Playstation |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
Youtube |
1 |
|
Mobile phone |
1 |
|
N/A |
1 |
|
Total |
19 |
