Professor John Robertson OBA

BBC Wales two days ago, had:

Reports of sexual assaults and harassment on trains have risen by more than a third over the past 10 years, according to data requested by a BBC investigation. There were 2,661 incidents reported across England, Scotland and Wales last year, where one in 10 were children – with some younger than 13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39r2zp1dw7o

BBC Scotland in their BBC Breakfast insert yesterday, had:

The number of sexual offences on trains in Scotland has risen by over 70% in the last decade, according to figures obtained by BBC Scotland news. There were 98 assaults reported last year, compared to 58 ten years ago – more than a quarter of those cases were closed without a suspect being identified.

You see their predictable emphasis on an increase but the reserved status of crime in trains is delayed. Far more important, they do not wonder if the level of such crime is the same or different in other parts of the UK.

However, from the above figures, we see that 98 of the 2 661 crimes across England, Scotland and Wales last year were in Scotland, leaving thus 2 563 in England Wales.

Now, you know where I’m going but, all things being equal, per head, pro rata etc, you might expect the figure for England and Wales, with between 11 and 12 times the population, to be up to 12 times the Scottish figure of 98 or 1 176.

It’s not. At 2 563, it’s well over twice as high as that.

Sex offences on trains in England & Wales are thus TWICE as common in England & Wales than they are in Scotland!

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