VIOLENT crimes committed by women have soared by more than 60% in the past five years, fuelled by the hard-drinking ladette culture, according to figures obtained by The Sunday Times.

While the number of women found guilty of murder has remained level at around eight each year, common assaults have risen 61% to 2,307. Overall, the number of women convicted of violent crimes rose from 1,637 to 2,618.

The number of serious assaults and attempted murders by women rose by 36% to more than 100. Convictions for carrying offensive weapons such as knives rose by more than two-thirds over the same period to just under 200.

The statistics support last week's warning by Elish Angiolini, the lord advocate, that women were becoming the “prime movers” in violent crimes and had been responsible for “appalling acts of torture”.

“They are not just going along with a dominant male partner, being an accessory, carrying knifes for boyfriends, assisting in cleaning up after a murder, hiding weapons, but are prime movers,” Angiolini told members of Holyrood's equal opportunities committee.

Women have been involved in some of the most gruesome murders to be committed in Scotland in recent years.

In 2005, Edith McAlinden, her son and his friend were jailed for life for slaughtering Edith's boyfriend and two pensioners in a Glasgow flat. Hardened detectives were shocked by the killing known as the House of Blood.

In 2003, Isabell Carvill and Gemma Valenti became the first mother and daughter in Scotland to be convicted on the same murder charge after killing Kenneth Finnie at a party. Carvill smashed a pint glass into his face and Valenti stabbed him in the heart after he made unwanted sexual advances.

Senior police officers have blamed the trend on the growing number of women who binge-drink and behave like their male counterparts.

Over the past decade, the number of women in prison in Scotland has risen by 90%, compared to 16% among men. There are concerns that Cornton Vale, the country's only female prison, will soon be unable to cope.

“These figures are disturbing and show the foolishness of those who say women should not be in jail,” said Bill Aitken, justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives.

“The figures are, in part, due to a more robust approach by the Crown who in the past have shown a propensity to take soft pleas from women. But it is quite clearly down to drink and drugs and sadly women are now following the pattern of men over the last 20 years or so.”

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