Dirty flashers and Peeping Toms are dodging prosecution in the latest example of Labour's soft justice epidemic.

Home Office figures show 17,907 offences of indecent exposure or voyeurism were recorded by police in England and Wales last year, the highest total ever.

However, just 2,474 of last year's cases ended with anyone being charged and put in front of a court.

The remaining 15,433 saw the criminals escape justice altogether because they were never tracked down, and even if they were caught they managed to avoid a criminal record.

Of those who were collared last year, 130 escaped with just a caution while another 199 crimes were settled by an informal 'community resolution', which can involve the offender apologising to their victim.

A further 165 cases were closed after the offender undertook a 'diversionary, educational or intervention activity'.

Officers were unable even to identify a suspect in 5,646 of the investigations closed last year.

In another 7,115 cases a suspect was pinpointed but the file collapsed through evidential difficulties before anyone could be brought to court.

It means perverts are getting away with their crimes in record numbers, with six out of every seven cases ending without a charge.

 He faced a series of indecent exposure allegations while working as a police officer, but they were not properly investigated.

The total avoiding justice soared by 29 per cent in a single year from 13,862 in 2024.

Criminal justice experts fear that flashers who repeatedly dodge justice become emboldened and progress to far more serious crimes, as with Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens.

Couzens later received a whole life tariff for raping and murdering the 33-year-old in 2021, after the chances to stop him were missed.

Figures show the Metropolitan Police closed 3,073 indecent exposure and voyeurism cases last year, with no suspect ever identified in 1,244 of them.

British Transport Police performed worst of all, drawing a complete blank in exactly half of the 464 cases it closed on the railways last year.

As recently as 2021 forces were dealing with 11,189 of the offences a year, a figure that has soared by 60 per cent since then.

Separate statistics show over the last five years there were nine murder cases, 300 rapes and 261 sexual assault offences committed by people who already had an indecent exposure of voyeurism conviction on their records.

Men who have gone on to kill after first carrying out indecent exposure offences include Hull university student Libby Squire's killer Pawel Relowicz, as well as Colin Pitchfork, who was the first ever person to be convicted by DNA profiling.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council said: 'Indecent exposure is a serious crime that can have a long-lasting impact on victims, and all reports must be investigated thoroughly, and with care and compassion.

'More than 100,000 officers have completed a new non-contact sexual offences training module to improve the quality of investigations.

'The training emphasises the importance of recognising the harm caused to victims and shifting the focus of an investigation to the suspect's wider pattern of behaviour.

'Most importantly, we want women and girls to feel safe and confident reporting to police, and when they do come forward, we must take swift action.'

Labour has come under fire for a series of soft justice policies, including releasing tens of thousands of criminals from jail early and introducing legislation to cut jail terms.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'These figures show that more victims are coming forward with these often-underreported crimes, but we know there is more to do to ensure survivors come forward and are taken seriously when they do.

'That is why this government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.

'We are already reviewing how the police respond to non-contact sexual offences and have supported the development of new training for police on these crimes.'