Lawyers and charities have gathered evidence showing police forces in England and Wales are failing to adequately investigate complaints of image-based abuse, often referred to as "revenge porn." The research indicates that charges were filed against perpetrators in only 4.5% of cases on average last year, with some regions reporting even lower rates. Data also shows a significant increase—over 4,000%—in reports to the Revenge Porn helpline between 2015 and 2025, while charges issued for image-based abuse totaled just 569 in 2025/2026. The study highlights inappropriate police responses, systemic failures, and a lack of priority given to such cases by law enforcement.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.65, but all 5 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 62214: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-07
Police forces are routinely failing to investigate complaints about the circulation of image-based abuse, previously known as “revenge pornography”, according to research that has triggered a super-complaint over the way such crimes are handled.
uncertain
crimes → fail → way
Lawyers have gathered evidence from 100 people who reported intimate images being shared online without their consent.
asserted
images → gather → consent
Their research suggests that image-based abuse is still frequently dismissed or not recognised as criminal offending, despite being described by the former prime minister Keir Starmer as a national emergency.
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abuse → suggest → emergency
Referrals to the Revenge Porn helpline, the charity that helps victims get non-consensual images removed from the internet, increased by more than 4,000% between 2015 and 2025, but data from 39 police forces in England and Wales shows that charges were lodged against perpetrators in an average of just 4.5% of cases last year.
asserted
charges → help → cases
Some police officers responded inappropriately when women tried to register complaints, researchers found.
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researchers → respond → complaints
One reported that the officer “almost giggled on the phone to me”, while another said the officer responded: “Boys will be boys.”
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Boys → report → me
Another said: “I bet you’ve learned your lesson.”
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you → say → lesson
Image-based abuse overwhelmingly affects women and girls, who make up 98.9% of reported images.
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who → base → images
Lawyers from Leigh Day and the charity the Centre for Women’s Justice are working with the charity #NotYourPorn to highlight systemic police failings in responding to image-based abuse, defined as “the taking, sharing or creating of intimate content without the survivor’s consent, or threatening to do so”.
asserted
Lawyers → work → consent
They note that rapid innovations in AI are helping abusers find new ways to create and disseminate synthetic explicit material, sometimes known as deepfake content.
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abusers → note → content
Their research classifies the policing response as “fragmented, inconsistent and incapable of meeting the scale of the threat posed by image-based abuse”.
asserted
research → classify → abuse
“Despite the increased public awareness, and the creation of new criminal offences designed to address this conduct, there has been no corresponding increase in charging rates, prosecutions or convictions,” the complaint says.
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complaint → increase → rates
“The unavoidable conclusion is that the overwhelming majority of this offending goes unaddressed.”
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majority → go → offending
Home Office data shows that there were only 569 charges issued for image-based abuse in 2025/2026.
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data → show → 2025/2026
The Revenge Porn Helpline received almost 25,000 reports in 2025.
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Helpline → receive → 2025
Researchers found that the vast majority of survivors of image-based abuse did not report it to the police, noting that “embarrassment, shame and fear” contributed to their reluctance.
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embarrassment → find → reluctance
Police outsourced the evidence-gathering process to survivors in many cases, the report notes, leaving them to work out how to collate proof that the images were being disseminated widely and how to get the content removed from the internet.
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content → outsource → internet
“It felt like to them it wasn’t a priority, it wasn’t even a crime,” one woman told researchers.
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woman → feel → researchers
Another said: “Police involvement has not alleviated the harm caused by this offence.
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involvement → say → offence
Instead, it has intensified my distress and left me feeling powerless and completely unsupported as a victim.”
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it → intensify → victim
A police super-complaint is a mechanism introduced in 2018 to allow concerns to be raised about ways in which the police operate that may significantly harm the interests of the public generally, rather than focusing on an individual force of officer.
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that → introduce → officer
The complaint will be jointly considered by the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which will decide whether to respond by opening a wider investigation.
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which → consider → investigation
Harriet Bland, a lawyer with the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “Without an urgent overhaul of police guidance and training on image-based abuse – which must be regularly updated – and a clear national strategy rolled out across forces, survivors will continue to be let down.”
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survivors → say → forces
The Aporia
