It Does Matter: Reporting Non-Contact Sexual Offences for a Safer Community

Have you ever experienced someone exposing themselves and dismissed it as a joke? Or felt the unsettling gaze of someone watching you getting changed, only to brush it off as harmless? Think again. Non-contact sexual offences*, such as exposure and voyeurism, have been historically overlooked in society as a form of violence against women and girls, but it’s time to change that. Often not considered serious enough to report by victims, these crimes can lead to an escalation in offending, including rape and sexual assault.

In light of the tragic murders of Libby Squire, Sarah Everard, and Zara Aleena, all of whom were victims of men with histories of non-contact sexual offending, the importance of addressing these crimes is being increasingly recognised. Research is underway both nationally and locally at Thames Valley Police to better understand and combat these offences.

Data from the Office for National Statistics in 2023 revealed that over 12,000 exposure and voyeurism offences have been recorded annually by police in England and Wales since April 2021. However, this represents fewer than 6% of the estimated total incidents, highlighting the significant underreporting non-contact sexual offences.

A recent report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for UN Women found that 71% of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in a public space, including though not limited to, sexual exposure. Shockingly, 95% of these incidents were not reported to the police, with more than half of women saying they did not report as they didn’t believe the incident was serious enough.

We want to make it clear: it is serious and it does matter.

That’s why we’re launching a new campaign – ‘It Does Matter’ – as part of our ongoing work to ensure women and girls feel safe in the Thames Valley. This campaign aims to educate and empower victims to report non-contact sexual offences.

This campaign has been developed with campaigner Lisa Squire from Buckinghamshire, who lost her daughter Libby in 2019 when she was at university to a sexual predator with an extensive history of escalating offending. We have worked with communications agency TMC, who specialise in education and public health campaigns, to target 18-24 year olds. As part of the research we have run student focus groups and have a Project Advisory Team of academics, psychologists and representatives from TVP.

At Thames Valley Police, we are committed to addressing non-contact sexual offences and welcome the Angiolini Inquiry recommendations. Our Rape and Sexual Offences team has made substantial improvements in recent years in how we investigate and respond to these crimes, and we are fully engaged in embedding the Operation Soteria principles.

Of note, our Digital Desk (in collaboration with Hampshire Constabulary) is designed to meet the growing demand for online reporting, providing a dedicated team to manage these reports, including those related to non-contact sexual offences. When an incident is reported through our online system, it is received directly by this specialised team, who aim to respond within one hour. The service operates 24/7, ensuring that all reports are handled promptly and consistently before being shared with the relevant detectives, intelligence and neighbourhood teams.

Assistant Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint, Force Strategic Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls, said:

“Many women and girls will have been subjected to non-contact sexual offences during their lives. This is likely to include your family and friends. Many will have brushed it off as something that happens to all women, or found that others have laughed at their stories, making them question how serious is it. We have created the ‘It Does Matter’ campaign to encourage those who have been subjected to offences such as indecent exposure and voyeurism to absolutely report to the Police. We will investigate, and it will also provide intelligence that will help us understand patterns of offending to assist with locating those that commit such crimes. It really does matter.

“We strongly encourage you to provide as much detail as possible when reporting non-contact sexual offences online. Detailed information, including descriptions of offenders, significantly improves our ability to route the report to the appropriate department.”

Lisa Squire, mother of Libby Squire and an active campaigner, said:

"Libby was enjoying her life at university. She had made new friends and was studying and partying hard!

"On 1 February 2019 Libby was refused entry to a club because she was too drunk. Her friends sent her home alone in a taxi. Libby never got home. She was raped and murdered by a stranger who had an extensive history of non-contact sexual offences.

"Libby's death was totally preventable.

"I knew I had to do something to raise awareness around safety at university and in the night-time economy and the importance reporting of non-contact sexual offences. After many meetings and lots of discussions with Thames Valley Police, 'It Does Matter' was created.

"I know Libby would be incredibly proud of what we have created in It Does Matter.

"My hope is that you take the messages in It Does Matter and make them part of your everyday life.

"Had someone done this for Libby that night she would be alive today."

To learn more, visit our dedicated website and follow our social accounts to keep up to date.

Speak up, stand together, stay safe.