Male victims 'not reporting' sex attacks - Herts police

Statistics suggest 75,000 men are victims of sexual assualt each year but only 3,000 offences are reported.

A police officer has said there is "significant under-reporting" of sexual attacks on men.

Det Con Kevin Cheese was speaking after a doctor who raped two men he met on the dating app, Grindr, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Det Con Cheese thanked the victims who came forward, but said many men do not.

The investigation into Dr Mohammed Altaher will feature on 24 Hours in Police Custody on Channel 4 on Sunday.

The documentary series has been following Bedfordshire Police since 2014.

St Albans Crown Court heard in September that both of Altaher's victims had withdrawn consent for sex when they met up with him at his home, but he had "carried on regardless", raping them in an "aggressive manner".

The case of Dr Mohammed Altaher, who was jailed for 10 years, will be featured on television on Sunday

The prosecutor, Nigel Osborne told the court one victim was given the drug MCAT before being subjected to sexual aggression, including rape.

The second victim was grabbed, kissed and pushed on to a bed by Altaher immediately after arriving at his home and was then raped.

'Like a zombie'

Both of the men who Altaher attacked described the effect the attack had on them, with one saying it left him behaving "like a zombie".

Altaher's barrister told the judge, Recorder Andrew Johnson, that his client had a "level of neuro-diversity that meant he did not understand or take signals from other people".

Altaher, who is appealing against his conviction, will be put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and will also face extra probation monitoring for five years after he is released.

Det Con Cheese said: "There is undoubtedly under-reporting in regards to male victims of sexual violence and I want to thank both survivors in this case for coming forward and getting a dangerous predator like Altaher off the streets."

Government statistics show that 275,000 men were victims of sexual assault in the year ending March 2022 but survivors' groups say only one in five men will report an attack.