Recent analysis reveals a significant increase in crimes where police do not record offenders’ ethnicity, sparking concerns about potential racism allegations. From 2011 to 2025, non-recording rates for child sex crimes rose from 5.6% to 28.7%, while general sex crimes increased from 8% to 29%. In robberies, the figure surged from 8% to 44%. Neil O’Brien, a former Conservative minister, emphasizes that this lack of data hampers understanding unique criminal patterns, especially following the grooming gang scandal involving mainly Pakistani perpetrators. Calls for a national inquiry persist, alongside Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s announcement of investigations into gang exploitation.
It was claimed last night that police do not record the ethnicity of offenders in case they are accused of racism.
Analysis of government statistics shows a sharp rise in the proportion of crimes where the perpetrator’s ethnicity is not recorded, such as child abuse.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Justice, the ethnicity of the perpetrator is not recorded in more than one in four (28.7%) cases of child sex crimes, compared to around one in 20 (5.6%) in 2011. It was.
For general sex crimes, a similar proportion now do not record the offender’s ethnicity, at 29 per cent, up from 8 per cent in 2011.
And now, in almost half (44%) of all robberies, the ethnicity of the perpetrator is not reported, a significant increase from just 8% in 2011.
Neil O’Brien, a former Conservative minister who conducted the analysis, said the statistics showed a growing “digital desert in migration”.
He said this was particularly worrying given the grooming gang scandal, in which men, mainly of Pakistani descent, were convicted of raping, abusing and trafficking girls in towns across the UK. .
He told the Mail on Sunday: “Given the grooming gang scandal, it is worrying that there appears to be no consistency in recording the ethnicity of offenders.”
Analysis of government statistics shows a sharp rise in the proportion of crimes where the perpetrator’s ethnicity is not recorded, such as child abuse (stock image)
It is claimed that police do not record the ethnicity of offenders in case they are accused of racism.
Neil O’Brien, a former Conservative minister who conducted the analysis, said the statistics showed a growing “digital desert in immigration”.
“That means people in the criminal justice system can’t connect the dots to see if a particular group has unique problems.”
Mr O’Brien is concerned that authorities are not recording ethnicity “for fear of being called racist”.
He added: “We know that a lack of willingness to think about the connections between cases is part of the problem and why victims of the grooming gang scandal have been left so disappointed.” . But we still don’t seem to be connecting the dots.
“That’s exactly why we need a full national inquiry, and why the government is wrong to block it.”
Shadow Attorney General Robert Jenrick told the Daily Telegraph that reducing data on the ethnicity of convicted criminals would “only increase the perception that the British state is paying for immigration” .
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a series of field investigations into gang grooming this week after tech tycoon Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, began commenting on the scandal. Mr Cooper also called for a rapid three-month investigation into the “current scale and nature of gang exploitation” after several Labor MPs began calling for a new inquiry into what happened. commanded.
