Registered Sex Offenders and Sexual Offences Against Children in Torquay

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/26/010469/A

Version Date: 23/09/2026

The Vulnerability Department and the Performance & Analysis Department have provided the following information:

Data Source:

Q1 – Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR)

Q2 – Crime information system – Niche

Data Limitations/Caveats:

ViSOR is not accurate on historic data as it will only return results of records we still own, any transfers out of force who did reside in Torquay on that date won’t be reflected in the results produced today. The numbers for victims under 18 are based on the index offence only, there is a chance that an index offence is inked to an adult victim, but there are other offences with child victims that will not have been returned in this search.

Please note, the number of crimes does not necessarily correlate to the number of victims on Niche. An individual may be victim of more than one offence of the same/similar nature within the timeframe.

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to Registered Sex Offenders and recorded sexual offences against children within Torquay.
I would be grateful if the information could, where possible, be provided using consistent definitions, methodology and geographical boundaries for each period so that the figures can be directly compared.
1. Registered Sex Offenders
Please provide the following information for both 2025 and the current position as at the date this request is processed:
a) The total number of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) recorded as residing within Torquay.
b) Of those Registered Sex Offenders, the number whose index offence(s) involved a child victim under 18 years of age, where this information is searchable using offence code, offence category, offence description or other structured data fields.
For the 2025 figure, please provide the number as at 31 December 2025, or the nearest available reporting date to 31 December 2025 if an exact year-end figure is not held.
For the current figure, please provide the number as at the date this FOI request is processed.
Please provide the information, if possible, in the following format:
a) 31 December 2025 / nearest available date
Total Registered Sex Offenders:
RSOs whose index offence(s) involved a child victim:

31/12/2025 – ViSOR records 125 registered sex offenders (RSOs); of those 79 have the index offence recorded on ViSOR with the victim aged under 18.

Please note that historic data on ViSOR will not be totally accurate, it will only show the number of registerded sex offenders who were residing in the Force area on the date of the search. Any sex offenders who moved away from the Force area between the offence and the date of the search will not be included in these figures.

18. b) Current figure
    Total Registered Sex Offenders:
    RSOs whose index offence(s) involved a child victim:
    
    02/09/2026 – ViSOR records 159 RSOs; of those 100 have the index offence recorded on ViSOR with the victim aged under 18.

Please note that it is not easily searchable to provide the additional information using HO offence code, offence category and descrption would require manual review and would make this request over the 18-hour fees limit.

2. Recorded Sexual Offences Against Children – 2025
   Please provide the total number of recorded sexual offences against children, where the victim was under 18 years of age, in Torquay during the calendar year 2025.
   Please cover the period:
   1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
   Please use the following criteria where applicable:
   • Recorded date range: 1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
   • Crime type: Sexual offences
   •           Location: Torquay
   •           Victim age: All victims aged under 18
   Please include all relevant age categories necessary to capture victims aged 0–17 inclusive.
   
   

Between 1 January and 31 December 2025, there were 132 crimes of rape and/or other sexual offences recorded, against a victim aged 17 or under, within the Torquay sector.

Please note, the number of crimes does not necessarily correlate to the number of victims. An individual may be victim of more than one offence of the same/similar nature within the timeframe.

3. Geographical Area
   If Devon & Cornwall Police is unable to extract this information specifically for Torquay, please provide the figures for the smallest available police, local authority or other geographical area that covers Torquay, and clearly identify the geographical area used.
   If the geographical basis used for Registered Sex Offender data differs from that used for recorded crime data, please identify the geographical area used for each dataset.
   If any of the requested information cannot be provided using precisely these criteria, please provide the closest available data and explain any differences in methodology, definitions, reporting dates or geographical boundaries.