The number of murders in England and Wales rose by 14%, fuelled by rises in knife and gun cirme, official statistics show.

 

The rise in the number of homicides brings to an end a decade in which the murder rate in England and Wales has been falling.

 

The police recorded crime figures also include a 9% rise in knife crime and a 4% rise in gun crime. The rise in gun crime is the first recordedin 8 years, and particularly shows a 10% rise in London. 

 

The officials behind the statistics say that a 36% rise in sexual offences also reflect a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes rather than an actual surge in attacks. something that may be aresult of the rise in feminist movements. 

 

However, despite these rises in certain types of violence, the Office for National Statistics said the overall violent crime rate in England and Wales actually remains unchanged. 

 

Offences such as burglary and car crime have remained flat over the past year after seeing falls of more than 30% since 2005. 

 

Jack Dromey, Labour’s shadow policing minister, said the figures showed that some of the most serious crimes have soared to the highest levels in years. He said: “The Tories have slashed police officers by 17,000 and broke their promise to the public to protect frontline officer numbers. Now we see the biggest increase in recorded crime in a decade. The first duty of any government is the safety and security of our citizens. The biggest cuts to any police force in Europe is letting the British people down.”