POLICE are failing to record basic data on sex crimes against women in public places, a report set up in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder found today.

The latest report from the Angiolini Inquiry said this “critical failure” means perpetrators are slipping through the cracks and prevention schemes are often “just words.”

Lady Elish Angiolini said: “What is of great concern to me, still, is that basic questions cannot be answered.

“No-one was able to confidently tell me how many women nationally report being the victim of sexually motivated crimes in public spaces.

“This gap in knowledge fundamentally impacted my ability to assess how effective current measures are at preventing these crimes.

“For example, we cannot answer basic questions such as ‘how many women were raped by strangers in public spaces, as opposed to someone known to them, in private spaces, in England and Wales last year,’ and there is limited data on sexual assault and indecent exposure.

“If this data is not being gathered and recorded consistently across forces, how can it be analysed to spot patterns in offending? This is a critical failure.”

She said that the focus should be on stopping perpetrators rather than changing women’s behaviour, and that data on offenders is “limited and disjointed.”

Her report also recommended artificial intelligence (AI) should be used to help identify predatory men who can then be “activity managed.”

It said data gathered from police operations should be harnessed together with AI to identify patterns in offending or behaviour and build a profile of offenders.

Ms Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by the former armed Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.

End Violence Against Women director Andrea Simon said: “This inquiry confirms what women and girls have been telling us for years: that the threat and reality of men’s violence restricts our everyday lives, and efforts to prevent it remain piecemeal, short-term and chronically underfunded.

“We welcome the report’s focus on long-term, whole-society prevention and on addressing perpetrator’s behaviour. For too long, society has enabled this abuse, and placed the burden on women to keep themselves safe. It is deeply concerning that, nearly two years on, policing has still not implemented basic reforms such as a ban on officers with sexual offence histories. Which is why more undercover police officers, as recommended with the rollout of Project Vigilance, cannot be the answer to police-perpetrated abuse. Women cannot be expected to trust a system that resists naming misogyny and racism, and continually fails to change.

“It is essential we do not limit our thinking to the criminal justice system, that we treat online spaces as public spaces, and long term prevention efforts are prioritised and properly funded. We look forward to the government’s imminent publication of the VAWG Strategy and urge that it prioritises prevention and change, as set out in our 5 key tests. We need political leadership and investment that matches the scale of this crisis. The safety of women and girls depends on it.”