Greater Manchester Police have hit back after a freedom of league information request had revealed that cautions were given out for hundreds of serious crimes over the past five years including 14 cautions for rape offences and a further 177 for a variety of sex crimes.
Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Understandably given the coverage around individuals being cautioned for rape, the people of Greater Manchester must be concerned due to the nature of the offences.
“I would like to reassure the public that we have robust procedures and scrutiny in place to ensure that, on the rare occasion cautions are given for serious offences, it is in the interests of the victim and the wider public.
“A caution is a serious matter. It is recorded by police and may be cited in subsequent proceedings. Cautions for indictable offences can only be authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, and only then when they have been reviewed by an officer of Superintendent rank or above.
“The Police and Crime Commissioner has a Quality Assurance Board that scrutinises rape cases that haven’t been prosecuted. Individual senior police officers and CPS representatives sit on this board.
“Of the 14 cases highlighted in the media, eight were referred to and authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service. There was one case where this didn’t happen but in that case the offender was 11-years-old and the victim just five so the senior officer made absolutely the right decision and this was made with the parents’ agreement.
“The remaining five, while reported initially as rape, once investigated were found to have insufficient evidence for a charge of rape. However, there was enough evidence to establish that a lesser offence had been committed.Three of the five cautions were then authorised by the CPS and two were authorised by police officers.
“In 14 cases, which happened over a five year period, the majority of the offenders were children. Youth offending teams were consulted and the decision to caution was only made after proper consideration. In all cases the victims and their families were consulted.
Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd had said that “On the face of it, it is clearly unacceptable that cautions should be issued for serious crimes such as rape. Taking this approach without a clear, transparent and justifiable rationale risks endangering public confidence in the way in which the police deal with the most serious of offences.
“Greater Manchester police now need to explain clearly to the public how it is that rapists have ended up with a slap on the wrist, and I will demand an explanation from the chief constable Ian Hopkins this week.”
