FOI reference: FOI-2025-2755
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am requesting the following information for the year 2024 within the United Kingdom (or England and Wales, if UK-wide data is not available):
The total number of recorded child abduction offences (including both parental and non-parental cases).
The number of child abduction cases where the suspect or perpetrator was identified as a foreign national (non-UK citizen).
If available, a breakdown of foreign national perpetrators by nationality or region.
Any guidance, policy documents, or internal memos regarding how police or agencies handle cases involving non-parental, foreign nationals accused of child abduction or attempted abduction.
If the data is not available for 2024 in full, please provide the most recent year for which complete data exists.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The most recently published figures relating to child abduction offences recorded by the police in England and Wales can be found in our Year to September 2024 Crime in England and Wales publication. Figures relating to the number of child abduction offences recorded by the police in England and Wales can be found in Table A5a in our Appendix Tables here. We do not hold data broken down by parental and non-parental cases.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide any breakdowns relating to nationality or region or information on the nationality of the perpetrator as we do not hold this information. The Home Office are responsible for the collection of police recorded data and would be best placed to assist you. They can be contacted at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.
Additionally, we are unable to provide any guidance, policy documents or internal memos regarding how police or agencies handle cases involving non-parental, foreign nationals accused of child abduction or attempted abduction.
If you have any other crime-related queries in the future, you can email crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk.