Nearly a quarter-of-a-million attacks on teenage girls were recorded last year, as boys are increasingly targeted by harmful online social media influencers, a new report reveals. Artificial intelligence is accelerating violence against young women and girls (VAWG), with technology being used as a "tool for coercion" and a "medium for abuse," police chiefs have warned.
In total, 1.36 million violent crimes against women and girls were reported in the 12 months up to March last year, with 231,000 (17%) relating to teenage relationship abuse. Almost a quarter of abusers (24%) were serial offenders who had committed at least three previous attacks, the research reveals. The true scale of the problem is believed to be much bigger, with approximately 80% of crimes not being reported to the police.
National emergency declared
The first national Strategic Threat Risk Assessment (STRA) today provides the most comprehensive picture to date of the threats facing women and girls across England and Wales. DAC Helen Millichap, Director of the NCVPP, said: "The assessment overall shows these threats are significant, complex and developing. We are saying today that violence against women and girls remains a national emergency."
Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women's Aid, said: "I am devastated, yet not surprised, to see that domestic abuse is the most significant and enduring threat – it is a crime where harm often escalates, sometimes fatally, and where the likelihood of reoffending is extremely high. The assessment highlights the need for a whole-system approach – something that we have also been calling for – and is necessary to ensure women and children are safe."
Online influencers and school concerns
Police have previously warned that online influencers like Andrew Tate are radicalising boys into hating women. Mr Tate is a self-proclaimed "misogynist" who rose to fame after appearing on Big Brother in 2016. He is currently awaiting trial in Romania over allegations of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women - charges he denies.
Schools are reporting "growing concerns" that "significant numbers of girls are avoiding education due to sexual harassment," the report states. Where suspects were aged between 10 and 18, 10% of offences (2,989) happened in schools and colleges, the research reveals.
Scale and impact
In total, two-and-a-half crimes against women and girls are being reported every second on average. In 2024 the NPCC said the number of violent incidents against women and girls had rocketed by 37% in four years.
Published by the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection (NCVPP), the assessment reveals that among 15-19-year-olds, harmful behaviour can be linked to online influences and social media algorithms. Ms Millichap said: "Domestic abuse remains the most significant threat, but the assessment also shows how offending continues to evolve through technology, exploitation and the growing risks facing children and young people."
The report states: "It is highly likely the increase of misogynistic content across mainstream online platforms over the last three years has been significantly influenced by algorithmic amplification, often boosting sensational or polarising material such as gender-hostile 'self-improvement' content and anti-feminist content. The increasing amount of gender-hostile content normalises harmful attitudes and influences offline behaviour, particularly among boys and young men, creating volatile and unsafe environments for women, girls and other children."
In the year ending March 2025, an estimated 5.1 million people were believed to have experienced VAWG. It accounted for 21% of all police recorded crime during the period. Domestic abuse made up 65% of all VAWG-related offences. More than half of recorded rape and serious sexual assault offences were committed by a current or former partner.
One in five homicides were domestic abuse related. The report said online abuse, sexual extortion, image-based abuse, and emerging AI-enabled harms are increasingly intertwined with offending in the physical world.
Serial violent offender Robert Sabat, 60, murdered his ex-partner, mum-of-two Dickiesha Nurse, 42, at her flat in South London, in October last year. Sabat had been released early from prison four days earlier. Sabat was this month jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years and one month. Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins were killed by serial sex offender Simon Levy while he was on bail and being monitored. Zara Aleena, 35, was murdered by Jordan McSweeney in Ilford, east London in June 2022, nine days after his release from prison on licence.
