Shootings and stabbings soar

Violent crime in London rose by 10 per cent last year, according to figures released by Scotland Yard today.

The crimes include offences such as murder, serious and common assaults, use or possession of offensive weapons and harassment.

But announcing the figures, senior Met officers emphasised that overall street crime - including muggings - dropped 16 per cent.

They blamed the rise in figures in several areas, including gun crime - up three per cent - rapes and drug trafficking, on new accounting procedures.

Overall the total crime rate rose by two per cent in the year ending 31 March.

But in two boroughs - Lambeth and Westminster - there were notable successes in the battle against mugging.

Last week in the West End where CID of ficers have launched massive campaigns involving high visibility police and undercover operations, police recorded only three street crimes in one day.

In Lambeth where similar operations have taken place, street crime has fallen on some days to seven or eight offences compared to 30 a day several months ago.

Deputy Commissioner Ian Blair said: "This is good news. This is the payback for the additional resources which have been invested in the Met."

Senior officers say the nine per cent increase in rapes reflects a greater willingness on the part of victims to report offences.

Similarly, they say that the 10per cent rise in drug trafficking reflects the police success in catching drug dealers.

The figures highlight the Yard's efforts in tackling street crime with huge resources being poured into the campaign against mugging last year after Prime Minister Tony Blair gave it the highest priority.

Overall, figures for the year ending 31 March 2003 show street crime fell by nearly 16 per cent, with 11,000 fewer victims. Break-ins also fell by two per cent across the capital.

Car crime is also down by one per cent though police say this is likely to be due to cars having better security devices.

The total number of offences in London rose by two per cent to 1,080,741.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter said the fall in street crime was a significant success and reflected " vigorous policing" particularly in central London. He said robberies in the Charing Cross Division which includes Leicester Square, Chinatown and parts of Soho had fallen to one a day in last week.

He said: "This is about having police on the street in numbers and when they are there they are doing something, arresting people and charging them. We are getting into people's faces, we have got full-time patrols in Leicester Square at nights and we are making full use of stop and search."