Kill threats have more than doubled

SOUTH Yorkshire Police recorded more than double ‘threats to kill’ crimes last year, shocking new figures have revealed.

The statistics from the Home Office show the number of offences recorded by the force, many of which came from Barnsley, more than doubled from 765 in the year to June 2019 – the latest figures before the pandemic – to 1,856 over the same period to June 2022.

Threatening to kill someone is an offence that can carry a prison sentence of up to ten years.

In South Yorkshire, 211 of these offences resulted in a charge or summons in the year to June – 11.4 per cent of all offences.

This was down from 20.6 per cent in the year to June 2019.

No suspect was identified in 10.5 per cent of cases, and 18.2 per cent of cases were dropped due to evidential difficulties, despite a suspect being identified and the victim supporting action.