Sharp rise in reports of death threats recorded by police
Police-recorded death threats have increased by nearly half across England and Wales compared with before the Covid-19 pandemic, figures show.
‘Threats to kill’ have become more common as part of a wider increase in online abuse – and new data shows that numbers have surged over the past few years.
Home Office figures show 51,308 such offences were recorded by police forces across England and Wales in the year to June.
This was up 49 per cent from 34,398 in the year to June 2019, before the start of the pandemic.
Threatening to kill someone is an offence that can carry a prison sentence of up to ten years.
Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said that while these figures may reflect an increase in the number of people coming forward, police must take threats seriously.
“Death threats are terrifying – especially because they are normally part of a bigger picture of abuse – like hate crime or domestic abuse,” she said.
“This huge rise in offences, coupled with a big drop in charging rates, suggests police are struggling to deal with the volume of this crime.”
Of the death threats recorded in the year to June, 3,388 resulted in a charge – 6.6 per cent of all offences.
No suspect was identified in 8.4 per cent of cases, and 22.9 per cent of cases were dropped due to evidential difficulties, despite a suspect being identified and the victim supporting action.
A further 2.1. per cent were still under investigation at the end of June.
Charge rates have dropped significantly from before the pandemic – in the year to June 2019, 11.5 per cent of death threat offences resulted in a charge.
Calls for action against death threats have increased in recent years, with public figures, politicians and sports people speaking out about the volume of threats they face daily on social media.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Police recorded violence should be interpreted with caution as increases may reflect improvements made by police forces in identifying and recording offences, as well as an increase in victims reporting incidents.
“We are injecting record funds into policing, giving police the powers they need to bear down on crime, and are on track to deliver on the manifesto commitment to recruit 20,000 additional police officers across England and Wales by March 2023.”