Prosecution and conviction data for s.61 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (spiking) 2018-2023
Request
I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following information:
- The number of reports of spiking from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2023, broken down by calendar year
- The number of charges of spiking from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2023, broken down by calendar year
- The number of prosecutions for spiking from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2023, broken down by calendar year
- The number of convictions for spiking from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2023, broken down by calendar year.
Response
We have understood your request for data relating to ‘spiking’ offences to be offences charged by way of s.61 Sexual Offences Act 2003 (administering a substance with intent also known as ‘spiking’).
The CPS can confirm that we hold some information relating to your request. The CPS does not hold data in relation to crime reports, which is a matter for the police, and we therefore hold no information in relation to your request at question one. The Home Office will be able to assist you in relation to reported crime statistics.
In response to questions two and three we can provide data showing the number of offences (not defendants or prosecutions) charged and therefore prosecuted by way of S61 Sexual Offences Act 2003 which reached a first hearing at a magistrates’ court. This data is for the period 2018 to September 2023. Please see attached Excel spreadsheet labelled ‘11878 DATA’ and note the offence and data caveats.
A manual review of the offences referenced in the spreadsheet has been undertaken to ascertain the number of offences that resulted in conviction. This has been provided for the period 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2023 in the table below showing the number of charged offences resulting in convictions, by year.
| Convictions | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Jan-Sept 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sexual Offences Act 2003 {61} | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
The offence-based data provided shows the number of offences commencing prosecution and reaching a first hearing in a magistrates’ court, and the number of offences convicted. It does not show the number of defendants or cases. Data for 2023 is recorded for January to September in accordance with our publication policy.