FOI 592-2025 / June 2025 / 66B offences
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 592-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 2nd June 2025 as follows:
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from Warwickshire Police relating to offences under Clause 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Please may you provide me with:
1) The number of offences under Clause 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 reported to Warwickshire Police since 1st January 2024.
2) The total number of charges for summary offences under Clause 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 brought by Warwickshire Police since 1st January 2024; and the number of convictions resulting from these charges.
3) The number of cases relating to offences under Clause 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by Warwickshire Police since 1st January 2024.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below. When reviewing the information please note the following:
- For Q1, a search was conducted for offences under Home Office Codes 088/15 - Sharing or threatening to share intimate photograph or film to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, or for sexual gratification and 175/08 - Share photograph or film of person in intimate state without consent, recorded during the period 1st January 2024 and 31st May 2025.
- For Q2, please note that outcomes only represent the most serious outcome for any suspect attached to an investigation, in the event that there are multiple suspects this does not take into account any ‘lesser’ outcome/s of any other suspect(s).
Q1 response: 178
Q2 response: Of the 178 offences returned in response to Q1, 3 have been outcomed as Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition. However, please note that there are a further 32 offences which are still under investigation and yet to be outcomed.
Please be advised that conviction data falls within the remit of, and is held by, HM Courts and you may wish to contact them in this regard.
Q3 response: Please be advised that the requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format. In order to determine the number of times Warwickshire Police referred to the Crown Prosecution Service it would be necessary to review each and every investigation and corresponding case file associated with the 178 offences returned in the response to Q1. It is estimated that such searches would take between 8 and 10 minutes each, which equates to between 24 and 30 hours of work. Therefore, such searches exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e., the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. For Police forces in the UK, the ‘appropriate limit’ is considered to be up to 18 hours of work on one request.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request. However, due to the extent of the searches required, I am unable to suggest a way to revise this element into one which could be provided within the fees limit. I can; however, advise that all charging decisions in relation to the stated offences will have been referred to CPS.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB