18% rise in crimes of violence

Seroius violent crime has soared by 18 per cent, the latest official statistics reveal today.

The rise in crimes including murder, serious wounding and grievous bodily harm points to a disturbing trend of criminals becoming more brutal.

All violent crime, including minor assaults, rose by 14 per cent, while sexual offences went up eight per cent.

The figures, which compare July to September 2003 with the same period in 2002, follow an eight per cent increase in violent crime recorded in the previous quarter and an 18 per cent rise for the last financial year.

They came as a separate analysis by government experts showed street robberies now make up the majority of gun crimes, with 70 per cent using illegal handguns. In London, however,

there was better news as Scotland Yard revealed that gun murders in the capital fell by nine per cent between April and December.

The Met's assistant commissioner Cressida Dick said much of the decrease was due to the public cooperating with police.

"People have more and more confidence in Operation Trident and they are prepared to come forward and give us intelligence," she said.

The rise in violent crime comes despite record numbers of police and an overall fall in crime which has seen burglary and car theft record consistent decreases.

Today ministers attempted to concentrate on good news by pointing to the findings of the British Crime Survey, a giant opinion poll on the level of unreported crimes, that crime overall fell by one per cent.

Police Minister Hazel Blears said the rise in violent crime was due to a change in the way police record offences and more people reporting crime.

But the Home Office's own statisticians admitted this summer that the National Crime Recording Standard had little or no impact on the most serious crime - meaning ministers and police chiefs now face a major problem tackling serious violence.

In the last four three-month periods the most serious violent offences rose by 20 per cent, 17 per cent, seven per cent and 18 per cent, and sexual offences showed consistent rises.

The figures show the Government's high-profile street crime initiative may be running out of steam, with robbery falling two per cent in the summer, compared with previous falls of 22 per cent and 17 per cent.

There was also a two per cent rise in drug crime.

But the total number of drug crimes is expected to fall significantly when cannabis becomes a class C drug.

The crime figures were revealed on the same day as a five-year minimum sentence for possession of an illegal firearm comes into force.