'Saville effect' sees spike in Highland rape reports as police reveal new stats
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MORE people are coming forward with allegations of rape to the police, with new figures showing reports doubled in the last two years.
Police in the Highlands and Islands received 31 reports of rape for the first quarter of this year - and an average of 36 rape crimes were reported each quarter last year.
This is against a previous five-year average of 17 rape reports per quarter.
Police Scotland Highlands and Islands Chief Superintendent Julian Innes said the rise in reported rapes did not necessarily mean more of these types of crimes were being committed, but that people were becoming more confident at speaking out
He believes the media spotlight on Jimmy Saville’s depraved crimes gave victims the courage to come forward.
Three-quarters of all rape crimes reported were historic.
Mr Innes said: “We have seen a significant spike and the Jimmy Saville effect has a part to play. The victims of sexual crimes have taken lot of reassurance and comfort from the high number of professional people in the media being convicted.
“I think there’s a general feeling that if justice can be doled out to people like Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris then there can be justice for other folk.”
He added: “What we’re finding is a quarter of those rapes reported to us actually took place the year that they were reported to us. The others are historic rape offences.”
The senior police officer said changes to the legal definition of rape, the way Police Scotland works with partners, and improvements in the way it now investigates these crimes, may have also had influence in the number and type of cases.
A new five officer team headed by a Detective Inspector was set up to deal specifically with rape crimes for the Highlands and Islands when Police Scotland was set up in April 2013.
It comes amid claims of a “Westminster paedophile ring” and an “establishment cover-up” making the national press, with the news of 114 missing Home Office files about an investigation into child abuse allegations.
The missing files - which are either “lost, destroyed or simply ‘not found’” - relate to a Home Office investigation into allegations made in a dossier compiled by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens,
Mr compiled his dossier on paedophile ring claims in the 1980s, but had not seen any results at the time of his death in 1995.
Chief Supt Innes does not support calls for a change in the law to make it illegal for someone to stay quiet if they suspect child abuse is occurring.
He added: “To legalise against whether somebody reports something to the police or not would be tricky. If somebody suspects they’re going to be punished for not telling us they may not share that information with us,
It’s different if it’s somebody who has a job in public office. But rolling that out to members of the public I think would be very difficult.”
