West Yorkshire man took picture up women's skirt on bus as police reveal true extent of upskirting

Across the country, the first figures on the impact of the new upskirting law, known as Voyeurism (Offences) Act, show almost one victim a day has contacted police since its introduction in April.

Here in West Yorkshire, there were six offences of upskirting reported to the force.

Only one incident - where the man took a picture up an 18-year-old woman's skirt while she was on a bus in West Yorkshire - resulted in a charge under the new law.

Of the other five incidents, all victims were female and aged between 21-years-old and 36-years-old.

Evidential difficulties prevented three cases progressing, while the other two failed when no suspect was identified.

West Yorkshire Police said the force "never underestimates" the impact sexual offences such as upskirting have on victims.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Cowley, of West Yorkshire Police’s Safeguarding Central Governance Unit, said: “The introduction of specific new offences in relation to ‘upskirting’ are assisting us in bringing more offenders to justice and provide better protection for victims.

“The figures within the Freedom of Information request on all voyeurism offences cover a broad range of incidents, each with their own circumstances and it would require more detailed analysis to draw any specific conclusions from them.

“What is clear, however, is that the number of these offences recorded remains very low in comparison to other sexual offences. Difficulties in identifying a suspect or other evidential difficulties have been the main reason the majority of cases recorded have not progressed to charge or caution, which illustrates some of the challenges we can face when investigating these types of incidents.

“We would always encourage anyone who is a victim of such an offence to report it so we can offer them all necessary safeguarding and support while we progress the investigation to identify the suspect and take appropriate action.”

Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws from 35 police forces found there had been 153 incidents reported to them in the 182 days since the law was created.

This was up from 94 incidents among 25 constabularies with available data during 2018, the year before the ban was introduced, and up from 78 reports over the two-year period from April 2015 to April 2017.