WITNESSES to shootings will be given greater protection under new measures to encourage more co-operation with police and help tackle soaring gun crime.

The move, to be announced by David Blunkett today, will come alongside a new Whitehall unit to spearhead the drive against gun crime which has risen by 35 per cent in the past year.

However, the Home Secretary has shied away from setting new targets for reducing firearms offences. He has been stung by criticism that a string of targets for tackling street crime has had little effect.

The new measures are unlikely to allow Mr Blunkett to draw a line under this week's row over crime and sentencing. Conservatives have called his law and order strategy meaningless drivel and are expected to call the new initiatves more of the same.

Yesterday Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary, called the crime figures truly terrible and accused the Government of kneejerk reactions to the latest headlines.

The new unit will involve officials from a range of Government departments, including the Home Office and Education, along with customs and the police.

Mr Blunkett will announce his proposals at a two-hour round-table meeting with leading figures in law enforcement today, when he will demand a more co-ordinated approach to firearms crime.

Figures showed that the 43 police forces in England and Wales recorded 10,000 incidents involving firearms, resulting in 97 deaths, in the year to April 2002. This was much worse than expected.

Almost half the incidents took place in London, where there were 11 a day. A further third took place in the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

The increase was driven by the use of handguns, which are easy to get hold of and are seen as fashion accessories for some young black people in inner cities. Offences involving handguns have risen by 46 per cent.

Robbery rose by 13 per cent and burglary by 5 per cent in the year to the end of September. Overall recorded crime rose by 2 per cent, although there was a 1 per cent drop in the last three months of the year, allowing ministers to claim that crime levels are broadly stable.

Unadjusted figures using new recording methods showed an overall annual rise in recorded crime of 9.3 per cent, including a 7.9 per cent rise in burglary. There were 5.7 million recorded crimes in the year to the end of September. But this was only an estimate as two of the 43 police forces failed to supply figures for the three months to September.

A separate survey on crime experienced by almost 40,000 people over 16 by the British Crime Survey estimated there had been an overall 7 per cent drop in crime in the year to September 2002.

The rise in gun crime is causing most alarm in Downing Street and the Home Office because it seriously undermines the Government’s record on law and order.

The latest figures come in the wake of the murder of two girls in Birmingham and the political controversy over the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor’s support for some burlgars to be spared jail.

Mr Blunkett has already announced minimum five-year jail terms for illegal possession of firearms and a ban on carrying replica guns in public.

He said: “We are determined to ensure that we are doing everything possible to stop gun violence. This is an opportunity to listen and learn.This is not a task for government alone but we accept our responsibility.”

Among those at the meeting will be Ian Blair, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Paul Scott-Lea, Chief Constable of the West Midlands.

Prosecutors and the National Criminal Intelligence Service, which co-ordinates intelligence between forces across the UK and overseas, will also be present, with customs and immigration officials.

A number of community leaders whose areas have been affected by gun crime will also attend, including Lucy Cope, chair of Mothers Against Guns, whose son Damian was shot in Central London.

Mr Letwin said: “Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are gun-related crimes, domestic burglary, retail burglary and drug offences. The only word for this is failure. The Government’s response of kneejerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working.

“The figures will continue to be dreadful until the Government produces a coherent long-term strategy to attack crime at its roots and get police back on our streets.”

Crime figures

Overall recorded crime up 2 per cent in year to September

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