ALMOST a third of sexual offences reported in the Dyfed-Powys Police force area were recorded in Carmarthenshire, new figures show.

A total of 551 sexual offences were reported in Carmarthenshire in the year to June 2023, according to crime data published by the Home Office.

This accounted for 32.64 per cent of reports of this type of crime, having risen from 546 sexual offences reported in the local authority area the previous year.

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378 sexual offences were reported in Pembrokeshire in the year to June 2023, falling from 409 in the previous twelve months.

In Ceredigion, the number of these offences reported fell from 318 to 261 across the two years.

The total number of sexual offences reported in the Dyfed-Powys Police force area fell from 1,720 in the year to June 2022 to 1,688 in the year to June 2023.

North Wales Police also saw a fall in the number of sexual offences reported across the two years (2,816 to 2,502), while Gwent Police (1,778 to 1,805) and South Wales Police (3,849 to 3,891) saw a rise in the number of offences reported over the two-year period.

The Home Office figures also show the rate of sexual offences recorded in the Dyfed-Powys Police area in the year to June 2023 is three per 1,000 population.

Within the force area, Ceredigion has the highest rate of sexual offences recorded (four per 1,000 population), while Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire both recorded rates of three per 1,000 population.

Elsewhere in Wales, the rates sexual offences were reported in the Gwent and South Wales Police force areas also stood at three per 1,000 population, while the North Wales Police force area had a rate of four per 1,000.

A Freedom of Information Act request from LegalExpert.co.uk found that – between September 2022 and September 2023 – the most commonly reported sexual offence to Dyfed-Powys Police involved sexual assault on a female aged 13 or over, followed by rape of a female aged 16 or over.

Women or girls were more likely to be targeted by sex offenders, the FOI data showed, accounting for more than 82 per cent of victims recorded by Dyfed-Powys Police.

In contrast, more than three-quarters of suspects identified as male.

A spokesperson from the Criminal Injury Team at JF Law, which owns the LegalExpert.co.uk brand, said: “The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and recent high-profile cases have brought sexual and physical abuse to the forefront of public policy.

“Many people are not aware that there does not need to be a conviction to claim.

“This means that even for those victims let down by the criminal justice system, there is still an opportunity to obtain a financial remedy which may help victims achieve a sense of closure.”