LARGE numbers of women are still being subjected to “digital strip-searches” despite a government pledge to overhaul how rape cases are investigated, the data watchdog has found. 

In a report published today, Information Commissioner John Edwards calls for the criminal justice sector to end immediately the practice of collecting vast amounts of digital information, including through phone analysis, from victims. 

Mr Edwards said: “Our investigation reveals an upsetting picture of how victims of rape and serious sexual assault feel treated. 

“Victims are being treated as suspects, and people feel revictimised by a system they expect to support them.”

The government announced in its rape review last summer that any digital material requested from victims would be “strictly limited” to what was “necessary and proportionate to allow reasonable lines of inquiry into the alleged offence.”

But the report from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that victims are still “being told to consent to hand over extraordinary amounts of information about their lives, in the immediate aftermath of a life-changing attack.”

Mr Edwards said excessive data searches continue to happen “at a more than trivial rate,” affecting a large number of people.

Rape Crisis England & Wales chief executive Jaybe Butler said the ICO report shows “that the current approach to personal data collection is part of the culture in the criminal justice system that is harming victims and survivors.”

She added: “Now is the time for radical and immediate change: victims and survivors deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The ICO report sets out a number of recommendations, including for the National Police Chiefs’ Council to mandate all constabularies to stop issuing forms to victims indicating a general consent to information being obtained.