Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary dropped 22 sexual offence prosecutions in the past 2 years because of missing or unavailable evidence, raising fresh concerns about how critical materials are stored and managed by police forces across the country.
Between October 2022 and September 2024, a total of 465 cases submitted by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary collapsed due to lost, damaged or missing evidence – known as an E72 outcome in Crown Prosecution Service records.
That figure places the force among the worst in England and Wales, with 2.18% of all 21,343 prosecutions failing due to evidence issues. The national average stands at roughly 2%.
Of the 465 collapsed cases, 22 involved allegations of sexual offences, such as rape or sexual assault. No murder prosecutions were recorded as having collapsed due to missing evidence during the same period.
The issue has been linked nationally to a range of systemic problems, including the closure of the Forensic Science Service in 2012, rising volumes of digital evidence, pressures on police budgets, and a reported increase in the number of inexperienced officers handling critical material.
In response to the figures, a spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said:
“Police and the CPS work together to ensure evidence is gathered and presented in a timely manner, bringing offenders to justice and ensuring victims are safeguarded. The E72 category refers to evidence that is either missing or unavailable when a defendant is going to trial following being charged. For example, police may not be able to find an expert witness to give evidence or it may be that a required medical statement cannot be obtained.
“When evidential issues occur in a case, the CPS will raise this with police for any action deemed necessary and we will work together to ensure these are resolved wherever possible.”
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The data, released by the BBC Shared Data Unit, was obtained from the Crown Prosecution Service via a Freedom of Information requests. It includes all collapsed prosecutions coded as E72 between October 2022 and September 2024.
According to official caveats, E72 covers cases where the prosecution cannot proceed because key material – such as forensic exhibits, witness statements, or expert reports – is missing or unavailable. This includes incidents where no file is submitted by police.
The figures represent individual defendants rather than case files, and outcomes may reflect changes to charges over time. The CPS also warns that the data is drawn from an internal management system and may be subject to revision.
Report: BBC Shared Data Unit
Too busy scanning social media for hurty words.
They would move fast enough if their wages didn’t get paid each month and I bete expenses don’t ever get lost
I remember when Jimmy Savile had accusations dropped against him due to ‘no evidence’. Then, after he died, the evidence ‘mysteriously’ appeared.
Read the book by Jim Davidson, and all is revealed there.
I often wonder whether there is someone at the top who is corrupt, and if the evidence were available, would it reveal wrongdoing?
Should there be an independent inquiry to examine how such evidence was ‘lost’? After all, it may offer closure for those impacted by the crime.
Mmm so how many sex offenders, violent or thieving bits of waste are walking free because of this latest cock-up? How strange that they fill the prisons with hurty word merchants, but ‘lose’ anything remotely hard or expensive for them to pursue. Perhaps rent a few lock-ups and store their stuff there, it would be safer than whatever they do now…
Mmm sounds fishy to me…
is it evidence some don’t feel worth keeping or not serious enough in certain peoples opinions?
what about the poor victim who had to muster the courage to come forward and raise the complaint in these instances? That’s way too many to be ‘mistakes’
That sounds deliberate doesn’t it.’
Either not enough staff or can’t be bothered. Shameful statistics for us, as usual
Sounds bloody criminal to me.