FOI 10905-25 Sexual Communication with a Child

Request to Northamptonshire Police

1. Please tell me the number of recorded offences under s.15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sexual communication with a child, (Home Office recording code 71/17) recorded from (and including) April 1st 2024 until (and including) March 31st, 2025.
2. Where possible I would like to know the age and gender of the victim, broken down into age groups: 11 and under, 12-15, 16 and over.
3. Please tell me the age and gender of the youngest
4. Where possible I would like to know the total number of perpetrators linked to these offences.
5. Please tell me all the forms of communication (i.e. which social media or messaging platform such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, TikTok etc.) that have been recorded as having been used in connection with recorded offences under 15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sexual communication with a child, from (and including) April 1st 2024 , until (and including) March 31st 2025.
6. How many offences, where the means of communication was known, took place on private messaging services?

Response

Question 1

Number of offences recorded under Home Office code 71/17 between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st

March 2025 - Total Count 52

Question 2

Question 3

I can advise that the requested information is held; however, it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of the following:

Section 40(2) Personal Information

Section 40 is an absolute class-based exemption, which does not require evidence of the harm disclosure would cause and does not require consideration of a public interest test. That being said, where Section 40(2) is engaged, in order to make the exemption absolute there needs to be evidence that a Data Protection Principle would be breached by disclosure.

This exemption is engaged where disclosure of information relates to personal data of a third party or could lead to the identification of an individual, either from that information alone or combined with any other information from within the Police Service or public domain. In this case, due to this being only one child, providing the requested information about outcomes is likely to identify an individual and provide personal information in relation to that individual. Such a disclosure would breach individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular Article 5(1) of the GDPR which states that personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.

This letter serves as a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act for these parts of the request.

In an effort to be helpful, I can advise that the youngest victim was a male aged between 5 and ten years old.

Question 4

Number of suspects/perpetrators linked to the offences described above - Total Count 43

Question 5 &6

*Please note that some offences involved more than one method of communication, therefore the above total will be higher.

Our data analysts are not experts in social media platforms or the messaging services they provide. We have included all platforms which we consider to be relevant within the scope of your request above.

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that the data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data.

If you decide to write an article or use the enclosed data, we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.