Few suspects found
POLICE close investigations without identifying a suspect in three quarters of reported vehicle thefts, four in five residential burglaries and almost half of shoplifting cases, new analysis shows.
Across the three offence types, hundreds of thousands of probes are shut with no suspected culprit in the frame.
The revelations prompted warnings that victims could be put off reporting offences, while criminals are given a “green light to reoffend”. LEADERS of the UK’s allies have backed Theresa May’s claim that the suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack are Russian spies.
US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with Mrs May agreeing with the British assessment that the operation was “almost certainly approved at a senior government level” in Moscow.
The two men alleged to have been behind the March nerve agent poisoning – Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov – have been identified by the UK as members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service.
In the joint statement, the leaders said: “We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level.”
They added that the announcement about the suspects “further strengthens our intent to continue to disrupt together the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories, uphold the prohibition of chemical weapons, protect our citizens and defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies”.
Mrs May has spoken to all four of her fellow leaders in recent days to update them about the investigation.
Her comments came as the war of words with Vladimir Putin’s government escalated following the explosive claim of GRU involvement.
Security minister Ben Wallace said Mr Putin bore ultimate responsibility for the action of his intelligence agents.
He said Mr Putin had a strong grip over his state, which “controls, funds and directs” the GRU.
Mr Wallace told the BBC: “The GRU is, without doubt, not rogue, it is led, linked to both the senior members of the Russian general staff and the defence minister and, through that, into the Kremlin and the president’s office.”
The joint statement by leaders of “the quint” nations came as the UN Security Council – of which Russia is a permanent member – considered the Salisbury revelations yesterday
Mrs May’s official spokesman said that the Prime Minister was pleased to receive such a rapid and united response from allies.
Mr Trump’s endorsement of the message followed claims that he was “reluctant” to expel 60 Russian diplomats in the aftermath of the Salisbury attack.
Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Mrs May’s accusations are “unacceptable” and that “no-one in the Russian leadership” has anything to do with the poisoning, while foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the UK and US of a “witch hunt” against Russia.