Two in five crimes closed without cops ever finding suspect – as recorded offences soar
TWO in five crimes are closed without police ever finding a suspect, figures show.
The shock news came as recorded offences rose by five per cent last year.
In all, 5.5million crimes were reported to police in England and Wales in the year to March.
But the Home Office Crime Survey reveals 39.3 per cent of cases closed without a suspect being identified, up from 36.7 per cent pre-Covid.
Three quarters of theft cases were shut unsolved.
Sexual offences were up by a fifth from 163,358 in 2019/20 to 195,315 in 2022/23. But just one in 50 rape cases resulted in someone being charged.
Fraud and computer offences soared by half and there was a 549 per cent increase in advance fee fraud whereby victims were tricked into paying upfront for fake goods and services.
The crime survey, which talks to victims about their experiences, found theft was down by a fifth, domestic burglaries were down by a third and car thefts by almost a fifth.
Nick Stripe, from the Office for National Statistics Centre for Crime and Justice, said: “Some crime types are returning to their pre-pandemic levels.”
Katie Kempen, chief executive of charity Victim Support, said: “Advance fee fraud is a prime example of the kind of scams that are committed at an industrial level on a daily basis. Yet prosecution rates are abysmal.”