Section:GDN 1N PaGe:8 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 20:33 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019
(^8) National
Big chains still sell knives
to children, checks reveal
Ministers
urged to act
as reports of
rape rise but
charges fall
Rebecca Smithers
Consumer aff airs correspondent
Children have been buying knives
from big UK supermarkets including
Tesco and Asda – despite retailers’
recent public pledges to toughen up
their sales policies – according to the
PA Media
The criminal justice system is putting
more people at risk by “failing to tackle
potential serial rapists”, the victims’
commissioner has warned.
Dame Vera Baird expressed the con-
cerns as offi cial fi gures showed that
reports of rape are rising but the num-
ber of charges being brought has fallen.
Rapes reported to police rose by
almost 13,000 to 54,045 in 2017-18,
compared with 41,186 the previous
year, with 11,913 attacks not recorded
as crimes, up from 8,.
The overall charge rate fell from
6.8% to 4.2%, according to data
recorded by public bodies that has
been gathered by the Rape Monitoring
Group and published by Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Baird said the government need ed
to act quickly in its review of how
complaints were handled to make
sure victims received the justice they
deserved: “The criminal justice sys-
tem is letting down current victims
and creating new victims by failing to
tackle potential serial rapists.”
She added: “More complainants
are coming forward, but fewer cases
are being prosecuted and only one
in every 50 cases results in a convic-
tion. How can this be justice? We know
Poundland , Home Bargains, Asda
and Tesco sold knives to children at
least 15 times each during the tests.
Separately, 100 online test pur-
chases were carried out for the fi rst
time. These le d to an even higher rate
of purchase, with children buying
knives on 41 occasions.
In April the Co-op said it had
stopped selling kitchen knives in
response to soaring levels of knife
crime in the UK.
Toby Harris , chair of National
Trading Standards, said: “ I am aware
that many retailers are working
that nearly four in fi ve victims of sex-
ual assault choose not to report the
crimes committed against them. How
can we ever give these victims the con-
fi dence to report when so few cases
ever secure a conviction?
“We need to understand the rea-
sons behind this failure. It is in part
down to the treatment of complain-
ants by police and prosecutors; for
example, failing to update them on
investigations or making intrusive
and disproportionate demands on
their personal data. We also know
that the treatment of complainants
in the courtroom can cause trauma
and distress.”
The data was recorded by bodies
including the Home Offi ce, the Offi ce
for National Statistics, the Crown Pros-
ecution Service and the Ministry of
Justice covering all 43 police forces
in England and Wales and the British
Transport Police, and previously pub-
lished separately.
The CPS decided not to charge
any suspects in just under half of the
cases. For 24,280 of the off ences there
were “evidential diffi culties” such as
the victim not supporting a prosecu-
tion. There were 2,238 off ences that
resulted in a charge or summons,
with the outcome for 6,647 not yet
recorded.
According to the latest MoJ fi gures,
the average time behind bars for rape
is about nine years.
Rebecca Hitchen, campaigns man-
ager at the End Violence Against
Women Coalition , said the fi gures
were “truly shocking” and evidence
of “just how broken the system is”.
She added: “This is a crisis and it
needs the highest level of political
attention. We urge the prime minis-
ter, the home secretary and the justice
secretary to get fully involved in the
ongoing rape review, from which very
little has been heard. We urge them to
demand answers as to what is going
on. They should also make clear, pub-
lic reassurances to women, and men,
who are considering reporting rape,
that meaningful work will be done to
improve access to justice.”
A CPS spokesman said: “The grow-
ing gap between the number of rapes
recorded and the number of cases
going to court is a great cause of con-
cern. That’s why the CPS is taking part
in a system-wide review to scrutinise
how these cases are being handled.” He
added that the “signifi cant fall in the
volume of referrals from the police”
had contributed to the drop in rape
charges.
Wendy Williams, an inspector of
constabulary, said it was vital statistics
about rape were made as transparent
as possible and that she hoped the data
would help the criminal justice system
do all it can to “prevent this most hei-
nous of crimes”.
incredibly hard to train staff and intro-
duce robust procedures to stem the
fl ow of knives to children. But our tests
show that it’s still too easy for a child to
buy a knife in store or online.”
Kit Malthouse , the minister for
policing and crime , said: “I am deeply
concerned to see some retailers are
breaking the law and I expect them to
take urgent action to stop young peo-
ple from getting hold of knives in the
fi rst place.”
In 2018 the discount retail chain
B&M was ordered to pay £480,000 in
fi nes and £12,428 in costs after selling
knives to children. Croydon trading
standards has recently prosecuted
companies for selling knives online.
Responding to the fi ndings, Asda
said: “ We have since provided updated
training for colleagues and have clear
policies in place to ensure we meet all
our responsibilities as a retailer.”
Tesco said it ha s toughened up its
display and sales policies after the
test-purchase period.
The Guardian revealed this month
that knives can be bought on Facebook
Marketplace without age verifi cation
despite a recent law requiring checks.
results of tests carried out by National
Trading Standards offi cers.
It is illegal to sell a knife to anyone
under the age of 18.
But the data reveals that of 2,
offi cial “test purchases” in England
and Wales over 12 months to the end
of March, retailers failed to prevent the
sale of a weapon to a child 344 times.
▲ Vera Baird said action was needed
to ensure rape victims got justice
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