Disturbing new figures show thousands of reports of rape and sexual assault being made from hospitals across England and Wales following an investigation by the Mirror
Thousands of horrific sexual offences including rape are being reported in British hospitals, new figures obtained by the Mirror show.
We sent Freedom of Information requests to 43 police forces in England and Wales asking for the number of reported incidents of sexual assaults and rape recorded at hospitals in their area, to which 28 provided a response. In total, 2,569 reports of sexual assault and 743 of rape were made to the police as having taken place on hospital grounds between January 2022 and January 2025. This is equivalent to more than 1,000 reports of sexual assaults and rape every year.
Alarmingly, only 158 incidents resulted in a charge in either category. In five police areas, reports of rape or sexual assault ended up with not a single case of anyone being charged.
Check your area
You can check all the police areas for which we received data in the interactive table below – click the blue keywords to see the different types of crime:
Many incidents are taking place on hospital wards
While many forces did not hold information on the specific location where the offences were reported within the hospital, the figures also showed that 1,132 of these incidents were confirmed to have taken place on hospital wards.
Northumbria Police had the highest number of reported incidents of sexual assault at 315, and 62 reports of rape. A total of 16 people were charged. The force told the Mirror: “When comparing figures nationally, it is important to recognise that there can be many factors which impact these, including the size of an area and population.
“Comparing Forces which vary greatly in respect of these and other elements can present an incomplete picture. As a Force, we take all reports of sexual offences extremely seriously.
“We are committed to ensuring victims are listened to and receive support, including from specialist officers. Our dedicated teams will also carry out a thorough and professional investigation to bring offenders to justice.
“This includes working with the Crown Prosecution Service and other criminal justice partners to look at how we can bring cases to court. We are also part of the national Operation Soteria initiative, which aims to enhance outcomes for victims and bring meaningful change in how investigations are carried out.
“We are further committed to working with our partners within communities to help prevent incidents from occurring. We would encourage anyone who has been subjected to any form of sexual offence to come forward – we want you to know we are here for you.”
Not all forces released figures
The Metropolitan Police were among the 15 forces who did not provide a response to our requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Many cited either high costs involved in retrieving the information, or difficulty in searching police databases for incidents classed as taking place on hospital grounds.
Some forces pointed out that some of the recorded offences may simply have taken in place hospital grounds or just outside, and may not have had anything to do with a patient or hospital staff member.
Others stated that some incidents of rape could be ‘double counted’ under the sexual assault tally. But it is likely that there were at least hundreds more incidents taking place in hospitals in other parts of the country during this period that are not reflected in our figures, due to the number of forces who did not respond.
‘I thought I would die that night’
Our revelations come after a woman who was horrifically raped in a hospital toilet last Christmas said she thought she would “die that night.”
Lee James Mullen, 38, from Flint, North Wales, admitted sexual assault by penetration and inflicting grievous bodily harm after the shocking incident at the NHS Glan Clwyd hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, on December 10 2024.
Convicted rapist Mullen held his hand over the victim’s mouth and told her he would kill her if she reported him. He was previously sentenced to 11 years after gagging and raping a woman in 2015.
In February, Mullen was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of seven years. He was given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a Restraining Order, and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
In a brave impact statement read out in court, his victim said: “On the night of the attack, even when I lay on the floor trapped, having taken a deep breath and played dead, you still punched me twice and assaulted me by penetration…I believed I was going to die that night in the toilets of a hospital, a place that’s meant to be for health, love, safety and trust…
“My greatest wish is that you never, ever do this to anyone again putting them through the trauma of what I went through that night, and I continue to go through to this day. I promise you now, I will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.”
The force that arrested him, North Wales Police, recorded 53 reports of sexual assault during the three-year period, including rape.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust meanwhile spent an extra £250,000 on boosting hospital security last year after an elderly woman was subjected to a sickening sexual assault while being treated at the city’s Royal Infirmary.
Peter Dzudza, 28, a drug user with schizophrenia, burst into the ‘vulnerable’ 71-year-old woman’s private cubicle, kissed her on the mouth and put his hand down her dressing gown as she lay in bed awaiting an X-ray, Bradford Crown Court heard. He fled the cubicle when she started screaming.
CCTV footage from the hospital later captured Dzudza sat in a corridor watching porn on his mobile phone and performing a sex act. Dzudza, who had been “staying” in Bradford Royal Infirmary because he was “homeless and cold”, was jailed for 27 months in September.
And last February, former hospital worker Sidharth Nair, 28, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for rape and four counts of sexual assault on a woman at NHS Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside.
Nair, who had been responsible for the woman’s care after she was admitted to hospital, began by sniffing the woman’s underwear and massaging her feet, later groping her breasts while telling her he was doing a “body map.”
He then sexually assaulted his victim while taking her to the toilet, and ignored her pleas to stop. The same evening, he followed her into the toilet, attempted to “clean” her, and forced her to touch him before raping her in her bed.
After the attack, he told her: “I won’t see you again”. Nair had been employed as a healthcare assistant for only around two weeks before carrying out the attack.
Calls for tougher safeguarding measures and better training
Ciara Bergman, CEO of charity Rape Crisis, described the figures obtained by the Mirror as “deeply concerning” and called for tougher safeguarding measures in hospitals. She said: “We know that sexual violence as a crime is vastly underreported, so these statistics are unlikely to be representative of the real figure. That so few reported rapes and sexual assaults in hospitals resulted in a charge is unacceptable.
“What this speaks to is the need for rigorous safeguarding measures in place, and for hospital staff to have access to specialist sexual violence and abuse training. It is crucial that all reports of rape and sexual assault are taken seriously, and that survivors are treated with the empathy and care they deserve.
“Criminal justice can be vitally important for victims and survivors, but so too is access to specialist support. All survivors, whether they choose to report or not, deserve help to understand the profound impacts of trauma, and re-establish a life after sexual violence and abuse.
“The demand for specialist support has reached unprecedented levels in recent years: that is why we’re calling for long-term and sustainable funding for sexual violence support services, like those provided by Rape Crisis centres.”
A government spokesperson told the Mirror: “These figures are shocking. NHS organisations have a responsibility to protect both patients and staff, to ensure robust measures are in place to stop sexual assaults happening in NHS services and premises, and to take action to fully investigate any cases that are reported.
“Last year, NHS England set out a National People Policy Framework on Sexual Misconduct – setting out the standards of behaviour, roles and responsibilities, and support structures for tackling sexual misconduct.”
