Sex offences, violence and fraud have surged in England and Wales, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.
Sexual offences skyrocketed by 32 per cent in England and Wales, according to data collected for the year ending March 2022.
It shows that 194,683 sexual offences were recorded by police, including the highest recorded annual number of rape offences to date (70,330 offences).
Part of the figures released today on domestic abuse and sexual assault show estimates based on six months of data collection from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
This data was collected between October 2021 and March 2022 and 5.7 per cent of adults aged 16 to 59 years experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2022.
And 2.7 per cent of adults aged 16 to 59 years had experienced sexual assault (including attempted offences) in the year ending March 2022.
Both figures show no significant change compared with the year ending in March 2020, however, ONS says the sample size was much smaller due to how data collection needed to change during the pandemic.
In March 2020, face-to-face interviews were suspended and replaced by telephone, and excluded questions on domestic abuse and sexual assault "because of concerns around confidentiality and respondent safeguarding".
Face-to-face interviewing resumed in October 2021.
The ONS remarks: "These estimates do not have accredited National Statistics status. As outlined in a letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have suspended the Crime Survey’s National Statistics status due to quality concerns related to a shorter data collection period and lower response rate.
"In contrast to the crime survey figures outlined above, police recorded domestic abuse-related crimes have been increasing and charities saw increased demand during the pandemic.
"Rather than being indicative of an increase in the number of victims, this may reflect an increase in the severity of abuse being experienced and a lack of available coping mechanisms due to government restrictions."
Data collected for the year ending in March 2022 found that when comparing reports of fraud and computer misuse offences there was an increase of 37 per cent when compared to data ending in March 2020.
Other violent crimes such as homicides also increased. When compared to the year ending March 2022, there was an increase of 25 per cent.
In the same time period, there was also a 10 per cent increase in the number of police-record offences with knives or sharp instruments.
Alternatively, there was a 20 per cent decrease in theft offences.
The previously released figures by ONS for the year ending in December 2021 noted at the time the figures had been "substantially affected by the coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions on social contact".
However, while national lockdowns saw a decrease in certain crimes, other types of crime including fraud and computer misuse "increased substantially".
The figures ending in December 2021 were released in March this year and also showed indications that certain offences were returning or exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
For example, violence and sexual offences exceeded pre-pandemic levels, while theft offences and robbery were recorded at a lower level despite increases over the nine-month period data was collected.
ONS figures comparing the year ending in December 2019 and December 2021 found that there was an 18 per cent increase in total crime, driven by a 54 per cent increase in fraud and computer misuse offences.
It also found there was a 15 per cent decrease in theft offences.
When compared to the year ending in December 2020 there was a 14 per cent increase in homicides, driven by increases from April to December 2021 when restrictions were lifted.
Furthermore, for the same period, there was a four per cent decrease in police recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments and a five per cent decrease in offences involving firearms; although these offences increased over the last nine months of the year, levels remained lower than before the pandemic.
