Crime hits record high with 6.5m offences recorded in a year – including 2.1m violent and nearly 200,000 sexual offences

27 October 2022, 14:23 | Updated: 27 October 2022, 17:14

Police-recorded crime has hit a new high, driven by steep rises in violent and sexual offences, new figures have revealed.

6.5 million crimes were recorded in England and Wales in the 12 months to June 2022, rising from the previous record high of 6.3 million in the year to March.

It represents a 12 per cent increase compared with the year to June 2021, when crime levels were affected by coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

The figure includes 196,889 sexual offences, up 20 per cent year-on-year from 164,043 and is 21 per cent higher than levels seen before the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Recorded sexual offences dropped during periods where lockdowns were in place, but there have been 'substantial increases' since April 2021, according to the ONS.

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This may be reflective of a number of factors, including 'the impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage and campaigns on people's willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims,' it said.

Police recorded some 2.1 million violent 'crimes against the person' in the 12 months to June, a rise of 13 per cent year-on-year and up 20 per cent on figures before the pandemic.

Comparable data for crimes recorded by the police begins in 2002.

In the year to June, 70,600 rape offences were recorded, which marks another all-time high and a rise of 20 per cent from 59,046 in 2019/20.

These offences have almost doubled in just over six years, from 36,321 in 2015/16.

There was a total of 912,181 domestic-abuse related crimes in the same period, up six per cent on the previous 12 months and up 14 per cent on 2019/20.

According to the office, some of this rise 'may reflect improvements seen in recording and reporting over the last few years'.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive at the charity Victim Support, said: 'This huge increase in sexual violence, in particular rape, reported to the police is seriously alarming and a stark reminder that the government needs to get a grip on staggeringly low conviction rates and horrendous court delays.

The figures will make grim reading for Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who was reinstated by new PM Rishi Sunak less than a week after she resigned from the same role under Liz Truss for breaching government rules.