Sex and violence driving new crime surge

SOARING numbers of sexual and violent offences are behind a 13 per cent rise in crime over the last year.

Office for National Statistics figures for the 12 months to June show the amount of recorded crime has passed five million incidents.

It will put pressure on Chancellor Philip Hammond for more cash for police to combat a new crimewave.

Statisticians said the rise in violence against the person offences continued a trend seen in recent years, driven largely by increases in violence without injury (21 per cent) and stalking and harassment (36 per cent).

There was also a 10 per cent rise in violence with injury, mainly down to a rise in recorded assaults. Knife crime rose 26 per cent while sex crimes were up 19 per cent. Forces in England and Wales registered 5.2 million offences in the year to the end of June. Police recorded 4.6 million offences in the year to June 2016.

John Flatley, head of crime statistics at the ONS, said: “These figures suggest that the police are dealing with a growing volume of crime.”

Crime minister Sarah Newton said: “We have taken urgent action to stop these crimes and keep our communities safe. This week we began consulting on tough new laws to crack down on acid attacks and knife offences.”

Bill Skelly, national police lead for crime recording and statistics, said more complex cases, the terror threat and “real-term funding cuts,” presented more challenges for police forces.