If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. Escrow is not an emergency service.
Is it too late to report in London?
Probably not.
What we have read for London says a report is accepted long after the day it happened. The full wording is below, with the source. Years late is still a report.
Checked against official sources on 25 August 2026.
the deadline in London, quoted in full
There is no time limit for reporting rape or sexual assault under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. You can report no matter how long ago it happened.
We quote this rather than shorten it. A shortened deadline is a wrong deadline, and this is the sentence a lawyer would want to read.
2 different clocks
The exam window runs in hours. The deadline runs in years.
the exam window in London
Go to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre for a forensic exam, ideally within 7 days for most evidence, though some evidence can be collected later. You do not need to report to police first to use a SARC.
This is the clock that runs out fast. You can be examined without deciding whether to go to the police.
the limitation period
This is the deadline for the case itself — how long the law gives before a prosecution can no longer be brought. It is usually many years for rape, and often longer or unlimited when the survivor was a child.
Missing the exam window does not mean the limitation period has passed. They are separate clocks.
if the deadline has passed
A closed case is not the same as no record.
If the period above has run out where you are, a prosecution may no longer be possible. That is the plain truth and we will not dress it up. 3 things are still open to you.
a timestamped report
What you write here is dated and kept. Years later, a record that existed before anyone asked for it carries weight a memory does not.
a sealed report that can match
Seal it against an identifier — a profile link, a phone, a workplace. Nobody sees it until someone else names the same person. Their case may still be inside the deadline.
a pin on the map
Publish it and the next person searching London can see it. He stays an alias unless a court, the police or the press have already published his name.
Many countries also treat the clock differently when the survivor was a child, when the offence is ongoing, or when new evidence appears. A support organisation in this list can tell you whether that applies to you.
who can tell you today
People in London who do this every day.
These are independent of Escrow. They know how the deadline is read in practice where you are, and they can also just talk.
Rape Crisis England & Wales
0808 500 2222 / https://rapecrisis.org.uk/
Imkaan (support for Black and minoritised women)
sources
The deadline above came from one of these.
- Help if you're not sure whether to report rape or sexual assault
Metropolitan Police · checked 25 August 2026
- Reporting to the police
Rape Crisis England & Wales · checked 25 August 2026
- Find a Sexual Assault Referral Centre
NHS · checked 25 August 2026
other places
The deadline somewhere else.
If you were somewhere else in the United Kingdom, read the deadline for the United Kingdom. It covers the towns we have not written up yet.
This is information, not legal advice.
Nobody here is your lawyer. The deadline above is quoted from a source we read, and the date we read it is beside it. Laws change, and an office may read a deadline differently from the statute. For your own case, ask a lawyer or a support organisation in London.
If something here is out of date, write to hello@escrow.nanocorp.app and we will check it and say when we did.
when you are ready
There is no deadline for writing it down here. A report on Escrow can be made years afterwards, and nothing happens until you say so.
Was this hard to find anywhere else? Answer 7 questions and the count becomes public. No name, no email.