BLADE BRITAIN
Knife crime reports hit record high at 120 a day
KNIFE crime reports have soared to a record high amid a surge in violent offences.
In further evidence of rising lawlessness in ‘ Wild West Britain’, knife crime allegations have jumped 7 per cent year on year – while the total number of violent crimes recorded by police has increased by 15 per cent.
In all, there were 1.7million violent offences reported in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of June – more than 4,600 a day, or three every minute. Figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed there were 44,076 offences involving a knife or blade – 120 every day.
There were 6.02million crimes reported to police, including non-violent offences such as theft and fraud, a 7 per cent year-onyear increase.
And in a further headache for Home Secretary Priti Patel, Home Office data showed the police were taking fewer suspects to court than ever before.
Out of the cases processed by police forces, only one in 13 – 393,000 suspects – were charged or summonsed to appear in court. Five years ago it stood at one in six. Police failed to identify a suspect in nearly half of cases – some 2.4million crimes.
David Spencer, from the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: ‘Seeing Britain’s violent crime epidemic laid out so starkly in these figures will be terrifying for many people around the country.’ He added that seeing knife crime at record highs and thousands of violent offences being committed every day ‘is truly shocking and the crime outcomes data shows clearly that the police have lost control’.
He said: ‘ For only one in 13 reported offences to be resulting in charges and court appearances shows urgent action is needed.
‘In the Queen’s Speech, the Government has shown that they are finally taking this crisis seriously. But they have to deliver on their promises quickly because every day they delay, more innocent people are falling victim to the UK’s spiralling violent crime crisis.’
Javed Khan, chief executive of the charity Barnardo’s, said: ‘It’s totally unacceptable that the knife-crime crisis continues to claim so many young lives.’
The total number of recorded knife crimes given by the ONS excluded figures from Greater Manchester Police, one of Britain’s largest forces, because of previous problems with its statistics. When GMP’s knife crimes were included, the annual total for England and Wales was 47,513, or 130 a day.
Recorded crime statistics also showed an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in robbery to 88,177 offences, or 242 a day. The ONS said it was likely to have been caused by a real rise in the number of robberies rather than any change in police recording practices.
Gun crime was up by 4 per cent on the previous year to 6,734 offences. Possession of weapons offences increased by 16 per cent annually to just under 47,000. Vehicle crime was up by 3 per cent to just under 470,000 but recorded burglaries fell by 4 per cent to 417,000.
The number of homicides fell by 5 per cent from 719 to 681 – the first drop in five years.
The Crime Survey of England and Wales, the Government’s preferred measure, said the overall number of crimes – including those never reported to police – stood at 11.1million, which it said was ‘stable’.
The survey is based on interviews with the public about their experiences of crime, and extrapolated to a national level, rather than being based on actual crime reports.
Chief Constable Andy Cooke, the National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman on crime, said the figures were a ‘symptom of the strain on policing as we try to manage growing crime and demand that is ever more complex’.
He said any rise in knife crime was ‘incredibly serious’ but noted the rate of increase was slowing.
The Government announced tougher sentences for serious criminals in this week’s Queen’s Speech and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to increase police numbers by 20,000 after the total fell by nearly 22,000 from 2010.
Police minister Kit Malthouse said: ‘I am deeply concerned at the rise in certain crimes, particularly knife crime.
‘With 20,000 more police officers in the pipeline and urgent action on a number of fronts, not least drugdealing county lines, we are making progress. But there is a lot more to do and we have to get smarter and more focused.’