Recorded Crime Victims 2025 and Suspected Offenders 2024

The relationship data in the following tables shows the nature of the relationship between victims and suspected offenders for recorded crime incidents for selected detected offence groups in 2024 that had been marked as detected by March 2026. Please see Background Notes for a description of each relationship category.

The data presented is based on detected crime and only where the relationship between both victim and suspected offender is known.

The crime category ‘Attempts/Threats to Murder, Assaults, Harassment and Related offences’ may be referred to as ‘Assault & Related offences’ in this section.

The relationship category ‘suspected offender unknown to the victim’ will be referred to as ‘stranger.’

The suspected offender was known to the victim in seven in ten crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that have been detected

The suspected offender was known to the victim in seven out of every ten (70%) crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that were detected by March 2026. The data also shows that:

• The suspected offender was classified as ‘other suspected offender known to the victim’ in about a fifth (19%) of detected crime incidents of Sexual offences. This relationship category could be considered less personal in nature to the other categories where the suspected offender was known to the victim.
• A blood relative was the suspected offender for 17% of detected crime incidents of this offence type while 12% were those in a position in authority or with care responsibilities.
• Friend or acquaintance and current or former intimate partner or spouse were 8% and 7% respectively.
• The suspected offender was a stranger to the victim in three out of every ten (30%) such detected crime incidents.

There were some differences in the profile of suspected offenders for male and female victims, and these included where:

• The suspected offender was a person in a position of authority or with care responsibilities for 43% of male victims, compared with 3% for female victims.
• A stranger was the suspected offender for 35% of detected crime incidents of Sexual offences involving female victims compared with 12% for males. See Figures 5.1 & 5.2, Table 5.1, and PxStat Table CVA12.

Six in ten suspected offenders of crime incidents of Assault & Related offences in 2024 that were detected were known to the victims

The suspected offender was known to the victim in just over six in ten (63%) detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences from 2024 that had been detected by March 2026. The data showed that:

• In nearly a quarter (23%) of detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences, the suspected offender was classified as ‘other suspected offender known to the victim’. Again, this category could be considered less personal in nature to the other categories where the suspected offender was known to the victim.
• The suspected offender was a current or former partner or spouse for 13% of detected crime incidents of this offence type and 11% were a friend or acquaintance.
• In 37% of such detected crime incidents, the suspected offender was a stranger to the victim.

Again, like Sexual offences above, there were some notable differences in the profile of the relationship with suspected offenders for male and female victims. These were as follows:

• Females were far more likely to be victim where the suspected offender was a current or former intimate partner or spouse. This relationship category accounted for 29% of suspected offenders involving a female victim compared with 3% for male victims.
• A quarter (25%) of detected crime incidents involving male victims involved other suspected offender known to the victim compared with 21% for females.
• The suspected offender was a blood relative for 10% of female victims compared with 6% for male victims.
• In 47% of detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences involving male victims, the suspected offender was a stranger compared with 22% involving female victims. See Figures 5.3 & 5.4, Table 5.1, and PxStat Table CVA12.

Blood relatives were the suspected offender for a third of detected crime incidents of Sexual offences committed against people aged under 18 years in 2024

The data shows for victims of crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that were detected by March 2026 and who were under 18 years at the time of occurrence that:

• Blood relatives accounted for a third (33%) of suspected offenders.
• More than one-fifth (21%) of suspected offenders were people in authority or with care responsibilities.
• Nearly a quarter (24%) were other suspected offender known to the victim.
• Strangers were 11% of suspected offenders.

For victims who were aged 18-29 years when the incident occurred, the data shows that:

• Strangers represented over half (53%) of suspected offenders.
• Friend or acquaintance accounted for 11% of suspected offenders and 9% were a colleague or work relationship.
• Other suspected offender known to the victim was 13%.

For those victims aged 30 years or more, 41% of suspected offender were strangers to victims. In addition, current or former partner or spouse accounted for 19% of suspected offenders and 15% were other suspected offenders known to the victim. See Figure 5.5, Table 5.2, and PxStat Table CVA13.

The suspected offender was more likely to be someone not especially close to the victim for detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences from 2024

For all three age groups, the suspected offender for detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences was more likely to be a stranger or other suspected offender known to the victim and to a lesser extent, a friend or acquaintance. The data showed that:

• The suspected offender was a stranger to 41% of victims aged 18-29 years, 37% for victims aged 30 years or more and 28% for victims who were under 18 years at the time of the incident.
• Other suspected offender known to the victim accounted for 34% of crime incidents involving victims under 18 years or age and on average about a fifth of victims aged 18 years or more.
• The suspected offender was a friend or acquaintance to 25% of victims under 18 years of age and 12% and 9% respectively for victims aged 18-29 years and 30 years or more.
• A current or former partner or spouse was the suspected offender for 13% of victims aged 18-29 years and 15% of victims aged 30 years or more. See Table 5.2 and PxStat Table CVA13.

The suspected offender was far more likely to be a stranger to the victim for recent than historic crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that have been detected

Table 5.3 below shows the nature of the relationship between victim and suspected offender for crime incidents of the selected detected offence groups by the incident reporting gap.

The suspected offender was a stranger to the victim in nearly half (48%) of recent crime incidents of Sexual offences in 2024 that had been detected by March 2026. This compares to 2% for those reported a year or more after occurrence.

In contrast, the suspected offender was a blood relative for 38% of victims of historic crime incidents of Sexual offences that have been detected compared with 4% for those recently reported.

About one-fifth (19%) of suspected offenders to both recent and historic detected crime incidents of this type were other suspected offenders known to the victim. See Figure 5.6, Table 5.3, and PxStat Table CVA14.

The suspected offender was a current or former partner or spouse for nearly a quarter of detected crime incidents of Assault & Related offences reported a year or more after occurrence

The suspected offender was a current or former partner or spouse in nearly a quarter (24%) of reported historic crime incidents of Assault & Related offences in 2024 which has been detected by March 2026. The corresponding share for recently reported crime incidents was 13%.

Other notable differences between recent and historic crime incidents were that the suspected offender was known to the victim for all detected historic crime incidents compared with 63% of victims for recent crime incidents.

Other suspected offenders known to the victim were responsible for 44% of detected historic crime incidents compared with 23% for recent crime incidents. See Figure 5.7, Table 5.3, and PxStat Table CVA14.