FEWER charges were brought against rape suspects in North Yorkshire last year than in the previous two years, but remain far higher than the national average.

Figures released by the Rape Monitoring Group - which uses information from the Ministry of Justice, Crown Prosecution Service, Office of National Statistics and local forces - show there were 31 suspects charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2015/16 (63 per cent of reported incidents), compared to 56 the previous year (67 per cent), and 40 in 2013/14 (77 per cent).

In the same period, the national average was 57 per cent (2015/16), 59 per cent (2014/15), and 62 per cent (2013/14).

The Ministry of Justice and the CPS said there was a time lag between any arrest and subsequent charges or court cases, but the figures also showed more people were convicted of rape last year than in any of the last five years - 34 in 2015/16, 31 in 2014/15 and 18 in 2013/14.

Locally, the number of convictions recorded by the MoJ in North Yorkshire more than doubled last year, from 10 in both 2013/14 and 2014/15 to 21 in 2015/16.

This means 68 per cent of rape cases brought in North Yorkshire led to convictions - an increase of 40 per cent on five years ago.

In England and Wales, 58 per cent of rape prosecutions ended in a conviction, and 26 per cent ended in acquittal. The remaining were retracted by the victims (five per cent), evidence did not support the case (two per cent), a conflict of prosecution evidence (four per cent), or ‘other’ (four per cent).

The IPCC report showed North Yorkshire’s figures on rape were among the lowest in the UK, and recent statistics seen by The Press showed there had been an increase in the numbers of people signing the Sex Offenders’ Register in recent years - from 79 in 2011, to 86 in 2012, 100 in 2013, 89 in 2014 and 152 last year.

Assistant Chief Constable Lisa Winward said the report was positive and showed the force worked closely with the CPS to ensure their cases were as strong as possible and led to positive results. She said: “What the report’s figures don’t show, is that a significant proportion – as much as 40 percent - of the rape reports we received over the last year related to ‘historic’ offences.”