Rape victims 'paying phone bills for months while police search mobiles', investigation finds

New consent forms ask rape complainants to hand over their phones
PA Archive/PA Images
Jacob Jarvis10 November 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Rape victims are having to pay mobile phone bills for months after having devices taken away for examination by police, an investigation has found.

This means they can be left hundreds of pounds out of pocket while investigators scan their phones for evidence, according to the Sunday Post.

The paper reported many saying they are unable to easily cancel contracts.

Rape Crisis Scotland accused some companies of making “deeply unethical” profits, by not pausing contract payments on phones held by police, the paper said.

Support charities are now calling for “clear procedures to ensure mobile phone companies cannot profit in this way from sexual violence victims’ traumatic experiences”.

Katie Russell, from Rape Crisis England and Wales, said she had “grave concerns” about the issue.

She said it was “paralleled here in England and Wales”.

She said requiring victims to hand over their devices is “putting some survivors off reporting and causing others to withdraw from the criminal justice process”.

Ms Russell said: “As people who report sexual offences are commonly being told, it is unlikely their case will be properly investigated unless they hand over their devices and allow a full download of their contents.

“Those who’ve been through these traumatic crimes are being faced with an impossible choice between their right to pursue justice and their right to privacy, as well as the privacy of their friends, families, colleagues.

“The whole process can feel distressing and even re-traumatising for many.

“Added to all this, the huge financial burden of having to pay for a mobile contract for a phone to which they don’t have access often for many months piles yet more stress and worry on those who’ve already been through so much.”

Earlier this year, campaigners called for urgent reform to so-called digital strip searches.

Digital disclosure consent forms introduced to all 43 police forces across England and Wales informed victims refusing to give investigators access to their messages, photographs, emails and social media accounts could mean prosecutions are halted.

Groups including Big Brother Watch and Amnesty International said only specific information relevant to the crime should be required.

They stated that the blanket, mass downloading of personal information including health records could deter victims coming forward.

Big Brother Watch said the average person’s smartphone contains the equivalent of 30,000 A4 pages, so police forces were currently “swamped by vast amounts of irrelevant information”.

Reporting by PA.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in