Surge in the number of death threats reported in Derbyshire

Death threats have become more common as part of a wider increase in online abuse – and new data shows that numbers have surged over the past few years.

New figures from the Home Office show the number of 'threats to kill' offences recorded by Derbyshire Constabulary has nearly doubled in the past few years, from 739 in the year to June 2019 to 1,424 over the same period to June 2022. Threatening to kill someone is an offence that can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said that while these figures may reflect an increase in the number of people coming forward, police must take threats seriously.

“Death threats are terrifying – especially because they are normally part of a bigger picture of abuse – like hate crime or domestic abuse," she said. "This huge rise in offences, coupled with a big drop in charging rates, suggests police are struggling to deal with the volume of this crime."

In Derbyshire, 103 of these offences resulted in a charge or summons in the year to June – 7.2% of all offences. This was down from 14.2% in the year to June 2019. No suspect was identified in 7.5% of cases, and 31.6% of cases were dropped due to evidential difficulties, despite a suspect being identified and the victim supporting action.

Calls for action against death threats have increased in recent years, with public figures, politicians and sportspeople speaking out about the volume of threats they face on social media. Across England and Wales, 51,308 such offences were recorded by police forces, up 49% from 34,398 before the pandemic.

Nationally, charge rates have dropped from 11.5% in the 12 months to June 2019, to 6.6% in the year to June 2022.

A Derbyshire police spokesperson said: “Threats to kill are a serious offence that can have a long lasting impact on victims and, as a force, we will conduct a thorough and proportionate investigation.

“Whether online or in person threats of this kind can attract considerable custodial sentences. The increase in reported incidents is likely to have been affected by the increase in quality of data recorded by the force, however, we also know that there has been an increase in reports of online abuse.

“If you are a victim of an offence of this type, whether in person or online, then you can report this to the force at any time. In an emergency you should always ring 999, but if there is no immediate risk then victims can make reports through the various non-emergency methods: Facebook – send us a private message to our Facebook page, Twitter – direct message our contact centre via @DerPolContact, Website – We have several crime reporting tools on our website or use our online contact form, Phone – call us on 101.”