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Sharp rise in sexual offences on railways in the UK

There has been a big rise in the number of sexual offences on the railways.

There were 1,117 incidents of sexual offences recorded by British Transport Police (BTP) in 2013/14 (the 12 months ending March 2014) - a 20.8% increase on the 925 in 2012/13.

Rise in sexual offences of railways Credit: PA

Most of the increase was accounted for by incidents of sexual crime against females, which rose from 485 in 2012/13 to 624 in 2013/14.

Sexual crime against males rose from 27 in 2012/13 to 42 in 2013/14 while cases of exposure increased from 141 to 148, with incidents of other sexual crime going up from 272 to 303.

BTP said the increase in sexual offences was slightly higher than that experienced by police forces nationally.