Violent crime soared in the year to June, alarming new figures have revealed.
Robberies, knife crime and violence resulting in injuries went up, while shoplifting cases rose by a massive 29% in England and Wales – despite previously reaching record levels in 2023. According to police data, there were 50,973 knife crime cases – up 4% in a year, with Greater Manchester Police not providing data.
Critics have lashed out at a Tory “legacy of failure” after data showed 2.1million crimes went unsolved – equivalent of nearly 6,000 every day. Statisticians said violent crimes have now returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Robbery cases rose by 6% to 81,931 offences, and there were 469,7888 shoplifting cases reported to police. Figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales found there were around 1.12million violent incidents – up by a huge 26% in 12 months.
Fraud rose by 7%, while theft was up by 6% year-on-year. The survey also showed that 4.6% of people over 16 had experienced domestic abuse in the previous year – amounting to around 2.2million victims. Around 1.5million experienced stalking, and around 1.1million were sexually assaulted.
But the number of homicides saw a slight fall, with 562 cases compared to 578 a year earlier, and firearms cases fell by 5%.
An ONS report said: “While most crime types did not show a statistically significant change, there were notable increases in robbery, violence with injury and consumer and retail fraud.”
Separate date released by the Home Office found 2,156,075 crimes went unsolved across England and Wales in the year ending June 2024. This is equivalent to 5,907 every day.
.Lib Dem Home Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Smart said: “This is the Conservative’s legacy of failure on crime. Thousands of victims left without the justice they deserve every single day, thanks to years of Conservative incompetence and neglect.
“Things cannot continue like this. Our communities deserve to feel safe – and that includes being confident that if you’re the victim of a crime, the police will turn up and properly investigate.
“Now, the government needs to deliver the change they have promised – and Liberal Democrats will be pushing for a return to proper community policing, keeping our neighbourhoods safe and reducing crime with more bobbies out on the beat.”