A new interactive map reveals London’s sex offences and stalking hotspots, as the mother of murdered model Sally Anne Bowman says women are still in “constant danger” 20 years on.
Latest figures show Croydon - where 18-year-old Sally Anne was stabbed and raped yards from her front door - has the highest overall rate.
Distraught Linda Bowman, 63, told the Standard: “Enough is enough.
“Things are far worse for women than when my Sally Anne was killed.”
In the year to March, the Metropolitan Police recorded 26,602 sex assaults across the capital with another 55,291 stalking and harassment reports – on average 224 every day.
Croydon had the greatest total (1,211 and 2,592 respectively), according to the Office for National Statistics.
It is followed by the boroughs of Tower Hamlets (1,026 and 2,523), Westminster (1,491 and 1,945), Ealing (927 and 2,138), Newham (991 and 2,231), Lewisham (1,014 and 2,200), and Lambeth (1,152 and 1,901).
Kingston upon Thames had the lowest number of recorded sexual offences and stalking and harassment reports with 363 and 695, followed by Richmond upon Thames (317 and 755), Merton (445 and 888), and Sutton (381 and 1,118).
The latest figures come from the ONS’s Crime Survey for England and Wales. It is the first time researchers have monitored these three crimes as part of Government ambitions of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.
Croydon West MP Sarah Jones said: “These figures are a reminder that violence against women and girls is a national emergency.
“The Labour Government and the Mayor of London are taking tough action to tackle VAWG, from putting domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms and introducing new domestic abuse protection orders.
“Croydon was one of the first places in the country to get these new orders and I am glad they are in place to protect victims and survivors here.
“As a community, we must work tirelessly to tackle VAWG, because every woman and every girl deserves to feel safe on our streets and at home, and we call on Croydon Council to set out what steps they will take to ensure that Croydon becomes a safe place for all.”
Speaking ahead of next month’s 20th anniversary of her daughter’s murder at the hands of global sex predator Mark Dixie, Mrs Bowman added: “I’m not surprised about Croydon - I’ve been warning about it for two decades.
“When detectives first started to investigate Sally Anne’s murder, even they were shocked by the number of sex offenders living a short distance away from her home. They had to knock on all of their doors first before widening searches further afield.
“It’s 20 years and women are still not safe. The police are doing as much as they can with the funding available. But how many bobbies can you put, not outside nightclubs, but in every suburban street?
“All women need to be given a rape alarm. It should also be compulsory for everyone to be on the national DNA database, so you know if you steal as much as a chocolate bar, you’ll be caught.
“There’s no deterrent. Empty promises were made to us. At the time, it was described as one of the most heinous crimes committed in London. Nothing happened.”
Part-time hairdresser Sally Anne dreamed of following in the footsteps of Croydon model Kate Moss. She studied at the BRIT performing arts school, whose ex-pupils included Adele and Amy Winehouse.
Mrs Bowman said of her daughter: “I miss Sally Anne every day. She would be 38 next month. I wonder if she’d be married or have children of her own? I just try to image what she would look like but I find it too hard.
“I see her friends growing up and have families but I’ll never know. He’s destroyed everything.”
Dixie was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 34 years for Sally Anne’s murder on September 25, 2005.
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Scotland Yard said: “We have reformed our approach to tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) by using innovative technologies and tactics to target predators and better protect women across the capital.
“We are leading nationally on innovation that secures results, meaning our charge rate for VAWG offences has tripled in the last three years.
“Victims continue to be central to our approach as we further develop tools to capture evidence, enhance our teams, and prevent reoffending, including the roll out of the V100 programme across London, which targets the most dangerous individuals.”
In 2024, more than 123,000 violent crimes against women and girls were reported to the Met.
Last month, the force unveiled “game-changing” new technology which captures bruising – especially on darker skin – more clearly and at an earlier stage, giving victims a better chance of justice.
Alongside the force’s V100 programme, which deploys counter-terrorism tactics to target London’s most dangerous offenders, 129 convictions and 154 serious charges have been achieved.
Arrests and charges for rape and serious sexual offences more than doubled.
Ashley Bramble, 36, sexually assaulted a 13-year-old schoolgirl after picking her up at Hackney Carnival.
At Wood Green Crown Court, Bramble was jailed for 15 years having been convicted of rape and sexual assault.
A team of 565 specialist officers and staff work to support victims of domestic abuse, rape and sexual violence.
The Met also invested in enhanced “first responder” training for more than 20,000 frontline officers to improve initial response to incidents.
A spokesman for London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said: “Violence against women and girls has no place anywhere in London and the Mayor is clear that it must be treated with the utmost urgency both by our police and society as a whole.
“His record funding for the Met is supporting targeted action to identify and go after the most dangerous and violent offenders, boosting specialist teams, first response training and strengthening visible neighbourhood policing.
“Sadiq is also working with partners across London to halt the spread of toxic masculinity in our society.
“This includes tackling misogyny in schools, delivering toolkits for all primary and secondary teachers to nurture healthy attitudes in the next generation of Londoners and investing in award-winning public awareness campaigns, to encourage men to step up and call out misogynistic behaviour among their friends.
“But there is still a lot more to do and the Mayor is committed to building a safer London for all.”
