Violent crime rises again

Violent crime has soared and police warn it is getting worse.

Half of all assaults are linked to alcohol, a finding that will fuel the political row over binge-drinking and 24-hour pub opening.

The figures come despite repeated promises of crackdowns by police. The statistics forced Home Secretary Charles Clarke to admit there was a "real problem" with violence on our streets.

The figures nationally also show: sexual offences up 22 per cent; all gun crime up five per cent and the use of imitation firearms up 48 per cent; 25 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 admit to criminal activities ranging from burglary to drug dealing.

In London, the Met's figures show a jump in violent offences from 180,000 to 200,000 from 2003 to 2004. The majority of the increase, around 15,000 offences, is also linked to alcohol.

The Met's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve House said: "I think it is an indication that there is more drunkenness and more alcohol-related disorder on the streets. There is a problem and it looks like it is getting worse."

Mr Clarke admitted that tackling drunkenness was a "key part" of the fight against crime.

He said: "Anybody who goes on to the streets of our city centres on a Friday or Saturday night has to say there's a real problem here that needs to be addressed.

"We are building a massive problem for the future if we don't really hammer alcohol-related crime."

Mr Clarke claims that measures he unveiled last week, including "alcohol disorder zones" in city centres and bans for problem drinkers, would make a difference. And he warned that the problems caused by drink extended beyond the streets and into the home as a major cause of domestic violence.

But at the same time Mr Clarke used the findings of the British Crime Survey, a giant opinion poll, to claim violent crime actually fell. He said that the statistical increase was due to the way

police now record violent

crimes. He insisted: "In the round, violent crime taken as a whole is down, taking into account the recording practices."

All violent crime was up six per cent, but when broken down, some categories were up even more. The most serious violent crimes, which include those ranging from grievous bodily harm to murder, were up three per cent, but other violent offences in which the victim was injured,

generally

meaning actual bodily-harm, was up 12 per cent. Officials claimed that the 22 per cent jump in recorded sex offences was due largely to the new Sexual Offences Act, which came into effect last May and which extended the kinds of behaviour which are classed as sex crimes.

Ministers welcomed a five per cent fall in overall reported crime in July to September last year, compared with a year earlier.

Car crime fell by 17 per cent, robbery by 18 per cent and

domestic burglary by 22 per cent during the same period, according to police figures.

There was mixed news on gun crime. Nationwide, police recorded a five per cent rise in incidents, driven by a worrying 48 per cent leap in the use of imitation weapons to commit crimes.

However, London defied the national trend with a seven per cent year-on-year fall in recorded gun crime.