Police have wrongly labelled hundreds of suspected rapists as women, The Telegraph can reveal – despite the Home Secretary saying they should not do so.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act show for the first time the scale of police adopting the self-declared gender of alleged sex attackers.

Over the past four years, police forces have referred 260 “females” to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider a charge of rape. 

A further 209 suspects have been recorded with an “unknown” sex, which is understood to include those who identify as non-binary. By law, rape can only be committed by a biological male.

It comes after the row earlier this year over Isla Bryson, the trans rapist who was initially sent to a Scottish women’s prison before being moved to a men’s jail following an outcry.