MUGGINGS and violent attacks on people soared by more than 10 per cent in the third quarter of last year as the police struggled to contain street crime, according to figures published yesterday.

Street robbery is rising at its fastest since Tony Blair demanded action three years ago by the Home Office and police to tackle the issue.

The increase in violent crime came as rising numbers of people expressed concern at the extent of antisocial behaviour, including public drunkenness and drug dealing in their neighbourhoods. Homicides of people under 16 rose by a quarter in the year to the end of September 2005.

A separate Home Office publication found that the introduction of police community support officers had had no impact on curbing crime but the 6,300 currently deployed had provided reassurance for the public.

Overall crime recorded by the 43 police forces in England and Wales fell by 1 per cent to 1.3 million incidents.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, insisted that despite the figures, the Government was succeeding in beating crime. “The war against crime we are winning, but I can point to battles, and street crime I can point to as an example, where we are not doing as well as we need to,” he said.

The figures from the 43 forces in England and Wales show that overall violent crime rose by 4 per cent in the third quarter of last year, including an 11 per cent increase in robbery. There were 315,800 violent incidents between July and September, compared with 304,300 in the same period a year earlier.

Robberies soared by 11 per cent on top of a 4 per cent increase in the second quarter of last year. The Metropolitan Police has said that one of the main factors behind an increase in mugging in London is the rising number of portable hi-tech goods, such as mobile phones and MP3 players. In the weeks after the July 7 bombings, muggings in London rose 23 per cent after thousands of police were sent to guard the capital’s transport network.

Gun crime rose by 1 per cent in the year to the end of September 2005, to more than 11,000 incidents. Violence against the person rose 4 per cent overall, although more serious cases including homicide, threats to murder and serious woundings fell by 10 per cent.

Offences in lower category crimes such as less serious woundings rose by 10 per cent. Serious injuries from gun crime rose by 18 per cent to 470 in the year to the end of September but the number of deaths from gun incidents fell by more than one third to 50 compared with 80 in the previous year.

Separate Home Office figures show that recorded homicides fell by 2 per cent from 2004-05 to 839. Homicides of under-16s rose by 25 per cent to 58 in the year to the end of September 2005.

The figures show that the long-term decline in burglary and car crime is continuing, largely as a result of greater use of burglar alarms and security features in vehicles. Sexual offences have also fallen, suggesting that recent increases were a result of indecent exposure being recorded as a sex offence.

Separate figures from the British Crime Survey for the year to the end of September 2005 show that crime fell by 2 per cent and violent crime by 5 per cent. The survey, which is based on people’s experience of crime, does not include interviews with people under 16 .

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Police Minister, said that the Prime Minister had said that crime figures were the measure of whether this Government was succeeding or failing. “On this test the Government is clearly failing the public when it comes to violent crime.”

In a separate report published today, it was disclosed that record numbers of prisoners released early are being sent back to jail after returning to a life of crime or breaking the terms of their supervision. The figures, in a report by Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, show a 250 per cent increase in the number of prisoners recalled to jail in the past five years. One-third of the sample had been arrested for further offences.

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