Shocking figures reveal scale of attacks on girls and women across West Yorkshire

Over the last three years, the police statistics show females were much more likely to be the victim of violent crime across West Yorkshire than males.

The case figures gathered from September 1, 2018, to August 31, 2021, show early intervention to address violent behaviour by men towards women has to become a priority, say Calderdale’s Liberal Democrats, who obtained the numbers.

Group leader Coun James Baker (Lib, Dem, Warley), who made a Freedom of Information request to West Yorkshire Police (WYP) to get the breadown, said: “Even though we all know that the situation is bad, the figures provided by the police are still shocking.

“Females are over five times as likely to be the victim of a sexual assault than males.

“The figures have not changed significantly over the past three years.

“Around 17 women in West Yorkshire are sexually assaulted every day.

“I believe we need more early intervention in the lives of men to help reduce violent tendencies.

“This will help protect women from violence, and also men who are victims of male-on-male violence,” he said.

Among WYP’s breakdown of statistics which relate to violent crime over that period, women have disproportionately been the victims.

Under the category “sexual offences”, 6,436 females have been victims compared to 1,508 males.

In the case of “violence against the person”, 60,757 women were victims compared to 44,983 males, and in the category “miscellaneous crimes against society” 2,462 females were victims compared to 1,508 males.

However, men were more likely to be the victim of robbery, show the figures, 2,799 in that period compared to 967 women.

Women were slightly more likely to be the victims of public order offences, say the WYP’s statistics, 12,438 men compared to 13,938 women.

Liberal Democrat councillor Amanda Parsons-Hulse (Warley) has been a member of Calderdale Council’s cross-party group developing a Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme, aimed at helping people who have been abusive towards their partners to change their behaviour and develop respectful non-abusive relationships.

“Violence against women and girls is totally unacceptable.

“It’s our job to address this behaviour and deal with the underlying causes rather than blame the victim,” she said.

* Support your Halifax Courier by becoming a digital subscriber. You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience. Click here to subscribe