FIVE cyberstalking suspects in West Yorkshire were “too ill” to be prosecuted last year, new data shows.

Data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to West Yorkshire Police showed the force recorded 6,288 cyber-related stalking and harassment crimes in the country during 2022.

These included: harassment, racially or religiously aggravated harassment, stalking, malicious communications and controlling or coercive behaviour.

But prosecution was prevented in five of the cases because the suspects were “too ill” and the case did not go ahead for one report because the victim was either “deceased” or “too ill”.

Just over a quarter of all the reported crimes last year happened in the Bradford area (1,605), with the most occurring in Leeds (2,180).

The highest reported crime related to online activity was malicious communications (4,505), followed by harassment (1,377) and stalking (360).

There were 25 examples of coercive behaviour and 21 racially or religiously aggravated harassment crimes.

The youngest reported victim was a six-year-old.

There were two eight-year-old victims of cyberstalking last year (a female and male), 17 aged nine (13 females, four males), 33 aged 10 (21 females, eight males, four unknown) and 62 aged 11 (34 females, 17 males, 11 unknown).

In terms of crimes where details of both the victim and offender were recorded, the youngest victim was a 12-year-old male.

The suspected offender of this reported crime was a girl aged 15.

The youngest recorded offender last year was a 13-year-old girl for a crime reported against another female two years older than her.

Less than one per cent of all the recorded crimes ended in a charge or summons.

West Yorkshire Police said it is often hard to identify offenders, due to the fact messages can be sent anonymously or through fake social media accounts.

Just over 86 per cent of records (5,461) ended without a suspect identified or suffered evidential difficulties during the investigation for the same reason.

A spokesperson for the force said: “We take such reports very seriously and will take positive action at all stages of the police response to protect victims and children.

“Cyber-related offences are identified through the use of a cyber flag.

“A cyber flag is required where, it is believed that, on the balance of probability, the crime has been committed in full, or in part, by the use of a computer, computer network, or computer-enabled device.

“By the very nature of online offending, for example anonymous messages and fake social media accounts, it can often be difficult to identify an offender.

“The force has specialist officers within our five policing districts who are responsible for ensuring that all crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted wherever possible.

“We work closely with specialist support services to ensure that victims are offered any support they need.”