Police accused of failing abuse victims

Published: 07 October 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Police forces across England and Wales are routinely failing to properly investigate complaints involving the non-consensual taking, sharing or creation of intimate images, according to new research that has prompted a formal police super-complaint.

Lawyers and women’s rights organisations say the current response to image-based abuse is inconsistent and inadequate, leaving many survivors without effective support while perpetrators frequently escape investigation or prosecution. The findings have raised fresh concerns about whether police forces are equipped to deal with a rapidly expanding form of abuse that is increasingly enabled by digital technology and artificial intelligence.

The research involved evidence gathered from 100 people who had reported intimate images being distributed online without their consent. Researchers found repeated examples of complaints being dismissed, poorly understood or treated as matters that did not warrant a serious criminal investigation.

Image-based abuse is commonly associated with the term “revenge porn”, although campaigners increasingly use the broader description because the offending is not always motivated by revenge. It can involve the taking, sharing or creation of intimate material without a person’s consent, as well as threats to distribute such material.

The issue has become particularly concerning because technological advances have made it easier for offenders to manipulate, reproduce and distribute explicit material on a large scale. Artificial intelligence has also introduced new forms of synthetic sexual imagery, including material created by digitally manipulating photographs or generating explicit content depicting real people without their permission.

Despite the growing scale of the problem, the research indicates that criminal justice responses have not kept pace.

Data from 39 police forces in England and Wales showed that charges were brought against perpetrators in an average of only 4.5% of reported cases last year. In some police forces, the proportion was below 1%, according to the research.

The figures have prompted lawyers from Leigh Day and the Centre for Women’s Justice to work with #NotYourPorn on the super-complaint, seeking changes to the way police respond to image-based abuse.

The organisations argue that the current policing system is fragmented and inconsistent and does not adequately reflect the scale of the threat. They say that new criminal offences and greater public awareness have not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in charges, prosecutions or convictions.

The result, campaigners argue, is that a large proportion of offending goes unaddressed.

The figures from the Revenge Porn Helpline underline the scale of demand for assistance. The charity received almost 25,000 reports during 2025, while referrals to the service increased by more than 4,000% between 2015 and 2025.

Those figures do not necessarily represent the total number of incidents because many victims never approach the police or specialist organisations. Researchers say embarrassment, shame and fear remain major barriers preventing survivors from reporting what has happened to them.

Women and girls are overwhelmingly affected. According to the research, they accounted for 98.9% of reported images, highlighting the gendered nature of the abuse and its potential impact on women’s safety, privacy and wellbeing.

Accounts collected by researchers also point to serious concerns about the way some police officers respond when victims attempt to report incidents.

Some women described officers making inappropriate or dismissive comments. One survivor said an officer appeared to “almost giggle” during a telephone conversation. Another recalled being told, “Boys will be boys”, while another said an officer responded by telling her, “I bet you’ve learned your lesson.”

Such experiences can discourage victims from pursuing complaints and reinforce the perception that the authorities do not consider image-based abuse a serious crime.

For survivors, the consequences can extend far beyond the original incident. Once intimate material has been placed online, victims can face uncertainty about how widely it has been distributed, who has downloaded it and whether it will continue to reappear.

The problem can become even more difficult when material is circulated across multiple platforms or private messaging services. Victims may be required to identify where images have appeared, collect screenshots and demonstrate the scale of distribution, placing an additional burden on people already experiencing distress.

The research found that police sometimes effectively outsourced evidence gathering to survivors. Instead of investigators taking responsibility for collecting evidence, some victims were left to work out how to demonstrate that images were being distributed and how to request their removal from online platforms.

One survivor said police involvement had not reduced the harm caused by the offence but had instead intensified her distress and left her feeling powerless and unsupported.

Campaigners say such experiences demonstrate why a national approach is required. They argue that individual police forces should not be left to develop inconsistent procedures for dealing with offences that increasingly cross geographical and digital boundaries.

The super-complaint mechanism provides a route for raising concerns about policing practices that could significantly harm the interests of the public as a whole. It was introduced in 2018 to allow systemic problems to be examined rather than restricting complaints to individual officers or individual police forces.

The latest complaint will be considered jointly by the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct. The organisations will assess the concerns and determine whether a broader investigation or other response is necessary.

The complaint comes at a time when policymakers and law enforcement agencies are confronting a rapidly changing digital environment. Artificial intelligence has created additional challenges by allowing explicit synthetic imagery to be produced and circulated without the knowledge or consent of the person depicted.

Campaigners warn that conventional approaches to image-based abuse may become increasingly ineffective if police guidance and training do not evolve alongside technology.

The concern is not simply that new forms of offending are appearing, but that existing weaknesses in reporting and investigation could become more pronounced as offenders gain access to increasingly sophisticated tools.

Specialist organisations have consequently called for clearer national guidance, regular police training and a coordinated strategy across England and Wales.

Harriet Bland, a lawyer with the Centre for Women’s Justice, said an urgent overhaul was needed. She argued that police guidance and training should be regularly updated and accompanied by a clear national strategy implemented consistently across police forces.

The demand for reform also comes amid a wider debate about how the criminal justice system should respond to online abuse. Digital offences can produce consequences comparable to those associated with more traditional forms of abuse, yet victims can sometimes find it harder to obtain effective police intervention because the evidence is distributed across online platforms and devices.

The disparity between the number of reports received by specialist organisations and the number of charges brought by police illustrates the challenge. Thousands of people are seeking assistance, but only a small proportion of reported cases appear to result in charges.

The figures also raise questions about whether the official statistics fully capture the scale of the problem. If many survivors do not report incidents because they fear embarrassment, blame or inadequate police responses, recorded crime figures may represent only a fraction of actual offending.

That under-reporting creates a difficult cycle. Limited reporting can make an offence appear less widespread than it is, while poor investigative responses can further discourage victims from coming forward.

The organisations behind the super-complaint hope the process will lead to changes in police practice, including clearer responsibilities for investigators and stronger recognition that image-based abuse should be treated as a serious criminal matter.

For survivors, effective action is not simply about securing criminal convictions. It can also involve receiving appropriate support, ensuring evidence is properly collected, and taking practical steps to limit the continued circulation of intimate material.

The rapid growth of digital platforms means that preventing further harm can be particularly difficult. An image can be copied, altered and redistributed repeatedly, making early intervention especially important.

The findings therefore present a significant challenge for police forces across England and Wales. While laws have developed to address different forms of image-based abuse, campaigners argue that legislation alone is insufficient unless officers understand the offences, recognise their seriousness and have the resources and training required to investigate them.

The super-complaint now places the issue before two key policing bodies and could lead to a wider examination of how complaints are handled nationally.

For victims and campaigners, the central concern is that a crime committed through digital technology should not become a crime that victims are effectively expected to investigate themselves. As artificial intelligence and online platforms create new opportunities for abuse, they argue that policing must adapt quickly enough to protect those whose privacy and dignity have been violated.

The outcome of the complaint could therefore have implications well beyond individual cases. It may help determine whether England and Wales develop a more consistent national response to image-based abuse and whether survivors can expect the police to treat their complaints with the seriousness that campaigners say they deserve.