New figures reveal crime in England and Wales has risen by 13%
The increase means that the number of crimes reported passed five million for the first time in a decade. The figure was 4.6 million last year.
The data, collected by The Office for National Statistics, revealed knife crime has increased by 26% with London contributing to nearly half of those figures.
Sexual offences and violent crimes are up by 19% while homicides grew from 583 to 629.
In total, 10.8 million offences were recorded during the 12 months from June 2016 to June 2017.
The rising numbers were attributed to “better crime recording” according to crime minister Sarah Newton.
“We know that some of this increase is likely to be genuine, which is why have taken urgent action to stop these crimes and keep our communities safe,” she said.
Mrs Newton added, “This week we began consulting on tough new laws to crack down on acid attacks and knife offences.
“Our Domestic Abuse Bill will help to bring this heinous crime out of the shadows and ensure victims receive both support and justice.”
John Flatley, a representative for The Office for National Statistics, said, “While improvements made by police forces in recording crime are still a factor in the increase we judge that there have been genuine increases in crime, particularly in some of the low incidence but more harmful categories.”