Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government for each of the past five years, how many prosecutions and convictions have been secured under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 relating to animal sexual abuse; how these figures compare with prosecutions and convictions for extreme pornographic images depicting animal sexual abuse; and what steps they are taking to address the disparity between the number of image-based cases and the number of associated perpetrators brought to justice.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions in criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. This includes offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and section 63(7)(d) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. They can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

The following tables provide the number of prosecutions and convictions for the offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and section 63(7)(d) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

Table 1: Number of prosecutions and convictions for offences under section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in criminal courts, England and Wales, year ending June 2021 to year ending June 2025[note 1][note 2]

Source: Court Proceedings Database

Table 2: Number of prosecutions and convictions for Possession of extreme pornographic images - a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive) (bestiality) in criminal courts, England and Wales, year ending June 2021 to year ending June 2025[note 1][note 2]

Source: Court Proceedings Database

Note 1: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Note 2: These figures are presented on a principal-offence basis - ie. reporting information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt with for. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

There are arrangements in place for cross-agency information sharing in the criminal justice system. All offenders subject to Notification Requirements will be managed under Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). MAPPA is a process through which the Police, Probation and Prison Services work with other agencies to assess and manage the risks posed by individuals convicted of serious violent, sexual and terrorism offences living in the community. This can include those who have committed the section 69 offence.

Where there is a conviction that is domestic abuse related but does not automatically qualify for MAPPA, practitioners are required to consider discretionary MAPPA management.

The Government is committed to protecting animals and holding those who abuse animals to account.

We keep the criminal law under review, including reviewing relevant or emerging information, such as any evidence of correlation between animal sexual abuse, child sexual abuse and domestic abuse.