Libby Squire, Zara Aleena and Sarah Everard were all killed by people with histories of non-contact sexual offending Predatory men are getting away with exposing themselves to women and girls as the number of police investigations that collapsed before reaching court has hit a record high.At least 105,275 incidents in England and Wales were logged between March 2016 and March 2025, but 75 per cent of cases fell apart due to “evidential difficulties” and no suspects being identified.Some 5,952 investigations last year were not progressed due to evidential difficulties, a 123 per cent increase on the 2,674 cases recorded in 2016, a Times analysis of police data found.More than 3,800 reports are yet to be assigned an outcome, so the figure is likely to rise.The Times has used several newly released Home Office datasets to piece together the national picture covering police forces in England, Blogger: About the third time I sat in court as a magistrate, around 1996, I had not been involved in the jailing of anyone - nor had I wanted to be. Then a 'flasher' was up before us. He had deliberately exposed himself to a young teenage girl who was his next door neighbour. 'Ah,' I thought. 'Here comes my first jailing.' But I was wrong. And that was the time when I was first shocked when sitting in court. That weekend, I met my Dad who had retired from Humberside Police in 1978. I asked him what happened with 'flashers' in his day. He stated that he had never seen one not imprisoned. And we wonder why such offences are rife, today!
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