Met's crime figures may be flawed

London's official crime figures may be flawed because of mistakes by the Met Police in compiling them, a Government watchdog warned today.

The Met was one of four forces given a "red light" by the Audit Commission, signalling "serious problems yet to be resolved" in the recording of crime.

Met records for at least one in five reported crimes were incomplete, inaccurate or filled in late. In some cases, auditors said, statistics may be have been distorted when offences were wrongly categorised.

District Auditor Kash Pandya said: "The crime figures could be right, they could be wrong. We just don't know."

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "These findings-suggest crime levels may be even higher than now reported." The Met was given an amber light last year.

But Scotland Yard insisted that its own internal research, carried out after the Audit Commission's last visit, cleared it of publishing inaccurate crime figures. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Bryan said: "We are confident the crimes that should be recorded are being recorded."