Violent crime on the increase
Violent crime recorded by police rose nine per cent in the three months from April to June, according to official Home Office figures.
Over the three month period crime against people – excluding robberies and sex attacks -increased by 12 per cent and more serious offences leapt by seven per cent.
However, despite a summer marred by high profile shootings, gun crime rose just three per cent in the 12 months to April this year to 10,250, compared with a 35 per cent increase in 2001-2002.
Recent cases such as the death of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield, who was shot in the back in north London, and jeweller Marian Bates, who was shot and killed during a robbery at her shop in Nottingham, have led to calls for tougher action on gun crime in Britain.
However, the Home Office figures suggest that rates of gun crime are slowing.
Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: “The risk of a fatal shooting in England and Wales is still one of the lowest in the world, but every crime involving a firearm is a serious concern and every life lost to gun crime is a terrible tragedy.”
More than 500 police officers in Islington, north London, took part in a series of ‘pre-emptive’ raids aimed at cracking down on guns and drugs crime in the area on Wednesday and 21 people were arrested.
About 17 per cent of offences using firearms resulted in physical harm, the majority of which involved only minor injury.
Last year there were 80 fatal incidents compared to 95 the year before – a reduction of around one sixth.
Overall crime rates remained “unchanged” according to recorded crime figures, but the number of offences reported by interviewees in the British Crime Survey, which includes crimes not reported to the police, fell by five per cent.
