©Action Against Abduction 2017

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Police-recorded child abduction and

kidnapping 2015/16: England, Wales

and Northern Ireland

Geoff Newiss and Craig Collie1

National summary

This paper summarises findings from Action Against Abduction’s fourth Freedom

of Information (FOI) data collection exercise with police forces in England, Wales

and Northern Ireland. 42 police forces provided all data requested; two forces

gave partial data. The key findings are:

● The number of all child abduction and kidnapping offences recorded by

police increased by 30 per cent from 2014/15 to 2015/16 (see Table 1) to a

total of 1,537.

● Parental and non-parental child abduction increased by 23 and 27 per

cent respectively. This contrasts with the 2014/15 findings in which the

increase in child abduction was entirely due to an increase in non-parental

child abduction.

● Child kidnappings offences increased by 40 per cent to 527 offences in

2015/16.

1 Geoff Newiss is Chief Executive of Action Against Abduction. Craig Collie is a lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Criminal Justice Studies.

1

Background and aims

Action Against Abduction undertakes an annual FOI data collection exercise in order to produce

a better understanding of police-recorded2 child abduction and kidnapping offences than is

available from published government or police reports. Specifically this report:

● separates parental from non-parental child abductions, showing the number and increase

in each category;

● provides information on child victims of kidnapping (government and police reports offer

data on adult and child victims combined); and

● shows how rates of child abduction and kidnapping compare across different parts of the

country.

This report is the fourth in the series (see Newiss and Collie, 2015 for 2012/13 and 2013/14

data; and Newiss, 2016 for 2014/15 data).

Scotland

This paper is limited to offences recorded by police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Legislation and offence categories are different in Scotland. Further work is needed to

produce a similar analysis for Scotland.

Method

FOI requests were sent to each of the 39 territorial police forces in England, four in Wales and

the single police force in Northern Ireland1F

3. The FOI asked each police force to provide a count

of:

● child abductions by a parent (Home Office classification 13/1F

4),

● child abductions by other persons (Home Office classification 13/2), and

● kidnappings (Home Office classification 36) when the victim was aged under 18 at the time

of the offence

for the year 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016. Returns were collated and analysed together with

mid-2013 population statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2014) – see Newiss,

2016 for more details. 42 police forces disclosed all data requested; two provided a partial

disclosure (see Appendix). A summary of the limitations of this method is available in Newiss,

2016.

2 This report presents an analysis of child abductions recorded by police. There is ample evidence that many abductions – both familial and non-familial – go unreported to the police (see Newiss and Traynor, 2013). 3 ‘Territorial’ police forces are police forces that cover a particular police area. The list excludes non-geographic police forces such as the British Transport Police, as well as ports, parks and defence police, and national police agencies. Details of the territorial police forces are given in the Appendix. 4 The Home Office classifications are contained within the Home Office Counting Rules (Home Office, 2015) which

provide the framework for the classification and recording of different crimes.

2

Child abduction offence categories

The criminal offence of child abduction is defined by the Child Abduction Act, 1984.

Parental child abduction

The Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone ‘connected with’ a child under the age of 16

to ‘take or send’ that child out of the UK without the appropriate consent. ‘Connected with’

includes parents, guardians or a person with a residence order or custody of the child.

‘Appropriate consent’ is the consent of the mother, the father (if he has parental

responsibility), the guardian or anyone with a residence order, parental responsibility or the

leave (permission) of the court.

Non-parental child abduction

The Child Abduction Act also makes it a criminal offence for ‘other persons’ to ‘take or detain’

a child under the age of 16 without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. ‘Other persons’

are people other than the child’s parent, guardian or a person with parental responsibility for

the child.

Kidnapping

Kidnapping exists in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and is defined at common

law as ‘the taking or carrying away of one person by another, by force or fraud, without the

consent of the person taken or carried away and without lawful excuse. It must involve an

attack on or loss of that person’s liberty’ (The Law Commission, 2011). There is a large

overlap between kidnapping and child abduction, both legally (ibid.) and in the types of cases

recorded under each offence (Newiss and Traynor, 2013). An offence of kidnapping (which

can be recorded for children and adults) may be recorded for older child victims (those aged

16 or 17 years old) for whom the offence of child abduction cannot be recorded.

3

National summary

The number of all child abduction and kidnapping offences recorded by police forces in

England, Wales and Northern Ireland increased by 30 per cent from 2014/15 to 2015/16 (see

Table 1) to a total of 1,537. Note, this excludes data from two forces which did not return data.

Table 1: Summary of child abduction and kidnapping offences recorded by police

2014/15 2015/16 Increase

(n=)

Adjusted

increase

(n=)¹

Adjusted

increase

(%)¹

Rate per

100,000

children²

Number

of forces

(2015/16)³

Parental child abduction

154 201 47 35 23 1.65 42

Non-parental child abduction

618 835 217 165 27 6.70 43

All child abduction 4 779 1,025 246 202 26 8.34 43

Child kidnapping 371 527 156 149 40 4.23 43

All child abduction and kidnapping offences 5

1,141 1,537 396 345 30 12.61 42

¹ More police forces disclosed data in 2015/16 than in 2014/15. The adjusted increase shows the numerical and

percentage increase when only those police forces which returned data for both years are included. A similar adjustment was carried out between 2013/14 and 2014/15 (see Newiss, 2016).

² Rate per 100,000 children, based on 2015/16 offence figures and mid-2013 population estimates for 0 to 17 year-olds in each police force area (see Appendix, and Newiss, 2016 for further explanation).

³ The number of police forces (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) disclosing data in each of the offence categories in 2015/16. Note, this has changed since the previous year necessitating the adjustments in the previous columns.

⁴ The figures for all child abduction offences are not the sum of parental child abductions and non-parental child abductions. This is because of inconsistencies in the number of forces disclosing data in each of the individual offence categories (parental and non-parental) and the total for all child abductions (see Appendix). In effect, each row ‘stands alone’.

⁵ The figures for all child abduction and kidnapping offences are not the sum of all child abductions and child

kidnappings. This is because of similar inconsistencies as described in footnote 4 (see Appendix). In effect, each row ‘stands alone’.

Child abduction offences recorded by police increased by 26 per cent. Both parental and non-

parental child abduction increased (by 23 and 27 per cent respectively). This contrasts with the

2014/15 findings in which the increase in child abduction was entirely due to an increase in non-

parental child abduction (Newiss, 2016). Offences of child kidnapping increased by 40 per cent

to 527 offences in 2015/16.

4

Parental child abduction recorded by police

The number of parental child abduction offences recorded by police forces increased from 154

in 2014/15 to 201 in 2015/16 (see Figure 1). This was partly because more forces returned data

this year. When adjusted to count only those forces that returned data in both years, the

increase was 35 offences, 23 per cent.

The Metropolitan Police Service (London) alone recorded one-third of parental child abduction

offences in 2015/16 (66 offences, more than double the national rate per 100,000 children, see

Appendix). Together with the Metropolitan Police Service another four police forces recorded

more than half of all offences: West Midlands (16 offences, 8 per cent of all offences); Thames

Valley Police (14 offences, 7 per cent); Northamptonshire (10 offences, 5 per cent) and Greater

Manchester Police (9 offences, 4 per cent). Northamptonshire recorded the highest rate of

parental child abduction with 6.28 per 100,000 children, nearly four times the national rate. Ten

police forces recorded zero offences.

The forces contributing most to the increase in offences were: Metropolitan Police Service (up

17 offences, a 35 per cent increase); Thames Valley Police (up 10 offences, from 4 the previous

year); West Midlands (up 7 offences, a 78 per cent increase); and Avon and Somerset and

Leicestershire (both up 6 offences, from zero the previous year).

Almost all offences (96 per cent) of parental child abduction involved the child actually being

taken (a completed abduction rather than an attempt) – see Table 2.

Figure 1: Parental child abduction offences

42 police forces

40 police forces

36 police forces

36 police forces

201

154

158

149

1.65

1.30

1.40

1.32

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

0 50 100 150 200 250

2015/16

2014/15

2013/14

2012/13

Rate per 100,000 children

No of offences

Number of offences Rate per 100,000 children

5

Non-parental child abduction recorded by police

The number of non-parental child abductions recorded by police increased from 618 in 2014/15

to 835 in 2015/6 (see Figure 2). As with parental offences, a greater number of forces returned

data in 2015/6. The adjusted increase (counting only forces that returned data in both years)

was 27 per cent (165 offences) over the previous year (see Appendix for more details).

Offences of non-parental child abduction were recorded in nearly all police forces (only the City

of London recorded zero offences), and more than half of forces (n=28) recorded 10 or more

offences. However, as with the previous year (Newiss, 2016) the large city forces accounted for

a substantial number of offences and the increase in offences. Together Greater Manchester

Police (133 offences, up by 23 per cent on the previous year); The Metropolitan Police (London)

(96 offences, up 30 per cent); West Midlands Police (78 offences, up 42 per cent); and West

Yorkshire (47 offences, up 12 per cent) accounted for over 40 per cent of all offences recorded.

Greater Manchester alone recorded a rate of 21.75 offences per 100,000 children, more than

three times the national average (6.70) and nearly double the rate of the next highest forces:

West Midlands (11.75); Humberside (11.67); Lancashire (11.56).

38 per cent of non-parental child abductions involved attempts to take a child rather than

completed incidents (see Table 2).

Figure 2: Non-parental child abduction offences

43 police forces

40 police forces

36 police forces

36 police forces

835

618

399

352

6.70

5.22

3.56

3.12

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

2015/16

2014/15

2013/14

2012/13

Rate per 100,000 children

No of offences

Number of offences Rate per 100,000 children

6

Child kidnapping recorded by police

The number of child kidnapping offences recorded by police increased from 371 in 2014/15 to

527 in 2015/16 (see Figure 3). Adjusting for the one additional force that returned data in

2015/16 still produces the largest percentage increase of all offence categories: 149 offences,

40 per cent.

The large city police forces of the Metropolitan Police (London) (130 offences, up 24 per cent);

West Yorkshire Police (53 offences, up 89 per cent); and Greater Manchester Police (32

offences, up 33 per cent) alone accounted for over 40 per cent of all offences recorded, and

over one-third of the overall increase.

However, a number of smaller police forces recorded sizeable increases and notably higher

rates of child kidnapping than the national average (4.23): Lincolnshire (increased from 2 to 18

offences, to a rate of 12.79); Cleveland (increased from 0 to 16 offences, 13.15); Hertfordshire

(from 4 to 17 offences); Bedfordshire (from 3 to 15 offences, 10.10); and North Yorkshire (from

4 to 16 offences, 10.35). Only two police forces recorded zero offences: City of London and

Gwent.

One quarter of child kidnappings recorded by police involved an attempted, rather than a

completed, offence – see Table 2.

Figure 3: Child kidnapping offences

43 police forces

42 police forces

40 police forces

40 police forces

527

371

309

270

4.23

3.02

2.65

2.23

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

2015/16

2014/15

2013/14

2012/13

Rate per 100,000 children

No of offences

Number of offences Rate per 100,000 children

7

Attempted and completed abductions

In this year’s FOI we asked police forces to disclose how many offences were attempted and

how many completed.

Several police forces were quick to point out that no formal definition exists (in terms of police

crime recording) for when an abduction or kidnapping offence can be considered ‘completed’.

How far does the victim have to be taken? For how long? Action Against Abduction highlights

the offender’s control of the victim as the key feature of a completed abduction (an approach

developed by Collie, 2017).

In the absence of a universally accepted definition for when an attempted abduction becomes

a completed offence, the data presented here should be considered only indicative of the status

of offences.

Table 2: Number of completed and attempted offences

Attempted Completed Total

n= % n= % n= %

Parental 6 4 164 96 170 100

Non-parental 215 38 350 62 565 100

Kidnap 106 25 326 75 432 100

Note: not all forces were able to disclose this data, hence the different totals from those given in the other tables and figures.

All but six parental child abduction offences were considered to have been completed (96 per

cent). However, 38 per cent of non-parental child abduction and 25 per cent of child kidnappings

were attempted offences.

8

References

Collie, C.J.R. (2017). A critical examination of features differentiating attempted and completed

cases of stranger child abduction in the UK. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Portsmouth.

Home Office (2015) Home Office counting rules for recorded crime (online). Available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/299318/count-

violence-april-2014.pdf (accessed 30 December 2015).

Newiss, G. (2016) Police-recorded child abduction and kidnapping 2013/14 to 2014/15.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland. London: Action Against Abduction.

Newiss, G. and Collie, C. (2015) Police-recorded child abduction and kidnapping 2012/13 to

2013/14. England, Wales and Northern Ireland. London: Parents and Abducted Children

Together.

Newiss, G. and Traynor, M. (2013) Taken: A study of child abduction in the UK. London: Parents

and Abducted Children Together and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Office for National Statistics (2014) Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland

and Northern Ireland, Mid-2013 (online). Available at: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-

reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-322718 (accessed 3 February 2015).

The Law Commission (2011) Simplification of Criminal Law: Kidnapping. Consultation Paper

No.200. The Law Commission: London.

9

Appendix

Under 18 population¹

Parental child abduction Non-parental child abduction Child kidnapping

2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ n= % n= % n= %

EAST MIDLANDS

Derbyshire Constabulary 212,634 0 0 0 0 0.00 15 12 -3 -20 5.64 4 5 1 25 2.35

Leicestershire Police 221,912 0 6 6 - 2.70 13 23 10 77 10.36 1 4 3 300 1.80

Lincolnshire Police 140,725 7 3 -4 -57 2.13 2 7 5 250 4.97 2 18 16 800 12.79

Northamptonshire Police 159,224 - 10 - - 6.28 - 11 - - 6.91 3 3 0 0 1.88

Nottinghamshire Police 226,494 1 0 -1 -100 0.00 1 9 8 800 3.97 4 9 5 125 3.97

REGION 960,989 8 19 11 138 1.98 31 62 31 100 6.45 14 39 25 179 4.06

EASTERN

Bedfordshire Police 148,444 1 1 0 0 0.67 4 9 5 125 6.06 3 15 12 400 10.10

Cambridgeshire Constabulary 175,855 5 6 1 20 3.41 4 4 0 0 2.27 1 4 3 300 2.27

Essex Police 375,522 2 0 -2 -100 0.00 6 10 4 67 2.66 6 3 -3 -50 0.80

Hertfordshire Constabulary 258,414 4 7 3 75 2.71 14 10 -4 -29 3.87 4 17 13 325 6.58

Norfolk Constabulary 166,507 3 2 -1 -33 1.20 12 9 -3 -25 5.41 6 3 -3 -50 1.80

Suffolk Constabulary 151,146 1 0 -1 -100 0.00 4 8 4 100 5.29 2 2 0 0 1.32

REGION 1,275,888 16 16 0 0 1.25 44 50 6 14 3.92 22 44 22 100 3.45

LONDON

City of London Police 829 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.00

Metropolitan Police Service 1885956 49 66 17 35 3.50 74 96 22 30 5.09 105 130 25 24 6.89

REGION 1886785 49 66 17 35 3.50 74 96 22 30 5.09 105 130 25 24 6.89

10

Under 18 population¹

Parental child abduction Non-parental child abduction Child kidnapping

2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ n= % n= % n= %

NORTH EAST

Cleveland Constabulary 121,656 2 1 -1 -50 0.82 12 9 -3 -25 7.40 0 16 16 - 13.15

Durham Constabulary 122,976 0 1 1 - 0.81 8 4 -4 -50 3.25 0 1 1 - 0.81

Northumbria Police 280,414 3 3 0 0 1.07 2 11 9 450 3.92 0 6 6 - 2.14

REGION 525,046 5 5 0 0 0.95 22 24 2 9 4.57 0 23 23 - 4.38

NORTH WEST

Cheshire Constabulary 213,504 1 2 1 100 0.94 9 10 1 11 4.68 2 7 5 250 3.28

Cumbria Constabulary 94,005 3 3 0 0 3.19 4 4 0 0 4.26 1 1 0 0 1.06

Greater Manchester Police 611,399 13 9 -4 -31 1.47 108 133 25 23 21.75 24 32 8 33 5.23

Lancashire Constabulary 311,541 2 0 -2 -100 0.00 34 36 2 6 11.56 6 13 7 117 4.17

Merseyside Police 279,072 - - - - - - 19 - - 6.81 3 7 4 133 2.51

REGION 1,509,521 19 14 -5 -26 1.14* 155 202 47 30 13.38 36 60 24 67 3.97

SOUTH EAST

Hampshire Constabulary 397,915 3 7 4 133 1.76 19 20 1 5 5.03 9 4 -5 -56 1.01

Kent Police 387,877 3 3 0 0 0.77 5 13 8 160 3.35 21 21 0 0 5.41

Surrey Police 252,270 1 1 0 0 0.40 8 14 6 75 5.55 7 8 1 14 3.17

Sussex Police 323,081 9 4 -5 -56 1.24 18 20 2 11 6.19 10 14 4 40 4.33

Thames Valley Police 529,031 4 14 10 250 2.65 9 20 11 122 3.78 12 8 -4 -33 1.51

REGION 1,890,174 20 29 9 45 1.53 59 87 28 47 4.60 59 55 -4 -7 2.91

SOUTH WEST

Avon and Somerset Const. 332,650 0 6 6 - 1.80 6 15 9 150 4.51 5 15 10 200 4.51

Devon and Cornwall Police 322,356 1 4 3 300 1.24 11 23 12 109 7.13 8 6 -2 -25 1.86

Dorset Police 140,285 2 1 -1 -50 0.71 6 1 -5 -83 0.71 0 1 1 - 0.71

Gloucestershire Constabulary 122,734 0 2 2 - 1.63 5 11 6 120 8.96 1 2 1 100 1.63

Wiltshire Police 151,409 2 2 0 0 1.32 2 13 11 550 8.59 8 5 -3 -38 3.30

REGION 1,069,434 5 15 10 200 1.40 30 63 33 110 5.89 22 29 7 32 2.71

11

Under 18 population¹

Parental child abduction Non-parental child abduction Child kidnapping

2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ 2014/15 2015/16

Change in last year

Rate per 100,000¹ n= % n= % n= %

WEST MIDLANDS

Staffordshire Police 225,306 2 3 1 50 1.33 19 13 -6 -32 5.77 11 10 -1 -9 4.44

Warwickshire Police 111,929 1 0 -1 -100 0.00 5 7 2 40 6.25 7 5 -2 -29 4.47

West Mercia Police 249,992 3 5 2 67 2.00 14 12 -2 -14 4.80 10 16 6 60 6.40

West Midlands Police 663,719 9 16 7 78 2.41 55 78 23 42 11.75 38 15 -23 -61 2.26

REGION 1,250,946 15 24 9 60 1.92 93 110 17 18 8.79 66 46 -20 -30 3.68

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER

Humberside Police 188,438 - 2 - - 1.06 - 22 - - 11.67 - 7 - - 3.71

North Yorkshire Police 154,648 1 2 1 100 1.29 7 7 0 0 4.53 4 16 12 300 10.35

South Yorkshire Police 285,191 6 0 -6 -100 0.00 13 19 6 46 6.66 2 12 10 500 4.21

West Yorkshire Police 509,391 3 3 0 0 0.59 42 47 5 12 9.23 28 53 25 89 10.40

REGION 1,137,668 10 7 -3 -30 0.62 62 95 33 53 8.35 34 88 54 159 7.74

ENGLAND TOTAL 11,506,451 147 195 48 33 1.74* 570 789 219 38 6.86 358 514 156 44 4.47

ENGLAND TOTAL adjusted

147 183 36 24

570 737 167 29

358 507 149 42

WELSH FORCES

Dyfed Powys Police -~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gwent Police 124,059 0 0 0 0 0.00 6 9 3 50 7.25 4 0 -4 -100 0.00

North Wales Police 139,979 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 2 -1 -33 1.43 0 4 4 - 2.86

South Wales Police 265,905 1 1 0 0 0.38 2 11 9 450 4.14 1 1 0 0 0.38

TOTAL 529,943 1 1 0 0 0.19 11 22 11 100 4.15 5 5 0 0 0.94

Police Service of Northern Ireland

432,015 6 5 -1 -17 1.16 37 24 -13 -35 5.56 8 8 0 0 1.85

E, W & N.I. TOTAL 12,468,409 154 201 47 31 1.65* 618 835 217 35 6.70 371 527 156 42 4.23

E, W & N.I. TOTAL adjusted 154 189 35 23 618 783 165 27 371 520 149 40

¹ Under 18 population data for each police force are taken from mid-2013 population estimates (Office for National Statistics, 2014). The rate of offences per 100,000 of the under 18 population was

calculated as follows: [number of offences] / [population] * 100,000. See Newiss (2016) for further details.

* The rate of 1.14 for parental child abduction in the North West region is based the population for the area excluding Merseyside, as the number of offences were not disclosed. The population of Merseyside was also excluded from the national population totals for the purpose of calculating the national rates of parental child abduction; the population for England was revised to 11,227,379, and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland to 12,189,337.

~ The population for Dyfed Powys was excluded from the regional and national populations for the purposes of calculating the national rates of parental and non-parental child abduction and child kidnapping, because the number of offences was not disclosed.

‘-‘ indicates that no data were disclosed, or that percentages could not be calculated because zero offences were recorded in 2014/15.