Just four out of more than 100 reported sexual offences at Reading and Leeds music festivals since 2018 have so far resulted in prosecutions, according to figures shared with the Observer.
The figures include 16 reported rapes of women at Leeds festival between 2018 and 2023, none of which have so far led to a prosecution.
Local police forces say that recent offences may still be working their way through the criminal justice system, but the lack of action to date has sparked accusations that not enough is being done to protect women and teenage girls at the festivals, which begin this week.
The figures were supplied in response to freedom of information requests from Amy Sharrocks, an artist and women’s rights campaigner who has been pursuing the issue for months.
Thames Valley police provided figures for Reading festival covering 2021 to 2023. Those three years saw 52 reports of sexual assaults, of which just three have so far led to prosecutions – one each year – though the police force said a number of the 22 offences reported in 2023 are still under investigation.
West Yorkshire police provided figures showing 50 reported sexual offences covering the five festivals held between 2018 and 2023, with no festival taking place in 2020. Only one of these has so far led to a prosecution and conviction – for sexual assault on a female in 2018.
Sharrocks has spent all year pushing for more action from Festival Republic, which runs Reading and Leeds festivals, as well as local councils and police, but to little avail.
“There has been a normalisation of this violence against women and girls, which just says, ‘oh, well, you’d expect that’, or ‘those are the numbers, that’s pretty much the national average’,” Sharrocks told the Observer. “And actually, can we please just be a bit horrified about this, that this happens the week after young people’s exams, and they’re all being put in very dangerous positions with very little access to justice if something goes wrong.”
Following months of requests from Sharrocks, Festival Republic provided its own figures showing arrests rather than prosecutions – 42 reported sexual assaults at Leeds from 2018 to 2023 resulting in one arrest, and 68 reported sexual assaults at Reading over the same period resulting in 14 arrests. Ten of the arrests at Reading were in response to the 22 reported sexual assaults in 2023, but it is not yet known how many will result in prosecution and conviction, and there has been no similar increase in arrests at Leeds.
In recent years Festival Republic has increased onsite support for those targeted by sexual offenders at Reading and Leeds, such as a police patrol focused on violence against women and girls, and a tent run by the organisation Safe Gigs for Women. But while this may have led to increased reporting of offences, there is limited evidence so far that it is helping bring offenders to justice, which requires identification and evidence.
“The answer to ‘what are we going to do about these appalling conviction and prosecution rates?’ is not ‘look at all the stuff we’ve done at the festival’,” Sharrocks said. “It’s ‘what are we doing systemically wrong that is ensuring that none of these women have access to justice? What are the systems that are ensuring that no one gets justice?’”
In a statement to the Observer, Festival Republic said: “Any decisions regarding prosecution are a matter for the police.”
Sandra* was 16 when she went to last year’s Reading festival. She and two female friends were watching electronic duo Bicep when a man nearby started edging towards her.
“He would get close to me, very close. And then I would step forward and move away, and then he would come up behind me again, and then I would also step away again,” she told the Observer. “And then he got very close to me. At one point I remember I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.”
When she no longer had room to move further forward, the man put his hands on her hips and pressed his groin against her buttocks through their clothes.
“I don’t know how long it went on for. It probably felt much longer than it actually was. In my head it was a couple of minutes. I was a little bit frozen.”
A girl in the crowd noticed and asked her if she was OK.
“She could probably see how scared I was on my face. And then I just broke down in tears, and my friends noticed and they grabbed me.”
She went to the police site near the festival. The police took her skirt for DNA testing but she heard little from them until they told her some time later that there was no DNA on her skirt and they couldn’t find the perpetrator.
The assault has had lasting effects. “I think whenever anyone comes up behind me, whether it’s just my brother giving me a hug or someone tapping my back, I immediately get a sense of fear and I jump, but then I’m fine,” she said.
“I went to a festival recently – just with my family – just a nice little thing, and nothing happened or anything, I was just in a crowd when it felt like it was physically happening again, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.
I knew in my head that nothing was going to happen, but it felt like it was happening again, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it, apart from just cry it out.”
Supt Dan Wood, who leads West Yorkshire police’s operation for Leeds festival, said: “Leeds festival is a privately run event that has its own professional security and welfare operation to ensure the safety of those attending the event, which attracts around 100,000 people each year.
“We have a safeguarding lead and specialist investigators assigned to the operation to ensure we can respond swiftly and comprehensively to any reports of sexual offences, supporting victims, identifying and arresting suspects and capturing all available evidence.”
Thames Valley police said: “There are unique challenges with policing a large festival and sexual offences are often complex and take a long time to investigate and as such, some of the offences listed as not reaching a prosecution are because they are still under investigation with inquiries being progressed.
“A significant comprehensive policing plan is in place surrounding Reading festival, within which we have a safeguarding lead, investigative team and crime scene investigators to support crimes at the festival.
As people are transient at the event, we ensure we can gather forensic evidence from tents or a location quickly.”
* Names have been changed
