UK's top prosecutor reveals nine in ten sex abuses go unreported

London, July 23 (ANI): Nine in ten rapes and other serious sexual assaults are never reported to police in the UK, the country's top prosecutor has revealed.

The Telegraph quoted Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as saying that just ten percent victims of serious sexual assault prefer to go to the police, because they do not believe that the criminal justice system will help them.

"In the past, all too often the criminal justice system failed in this respect. But, as I have already suggested, that is changing," the report quoted him as saying.

"That makes it all the more important that when such a crime is reported it is dealt with professionally, effectively and with understanding," he said.

Similarly, only four in ten victims of domestic abuse report it.

During a speech to women's groups and criminal justice workers, in London, the DPP insisted that work to address myths and attitudes is beginning to show with a rise in successful prosecutions.

Last year, the police recorded just over 44,000 serious sexual assaults but the true picture could be ten times that figure.

Under the Government's Violence against Women and Girls strategy, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been working to improve prosecutions and the way victims are dealt with in the criminal justice system.

It is the first time that the proportion of rape has gone above 60 percent.

Starmer hopes the more success his prosecutors are, the more encouragement there will be for victims to come forward.

Starmer said: "There are clearly problems with people feeling confident to report in the first place."

The work to improve convictions has included specialist training for 3,000 prosecutors and 800 rape specialists, he said (ANI)

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