Burglaries up 14% - British Crime Survey

Burglaries at homes in England and Wales increased by 14% in 2010-11 compared with the previous year, the British Crime Survey (BCS) suggests.

The survey of 45,000 households also indicated overall crime levels were up slightly, though researchers said this was not "statistically significant".

Officials regard the BCS as the most reliable indicator of crime trends.

Separate data of crimes recorded by police showed crime fell 4% and domestic burglary was down 4%.

It also suggested a 10% rise in the number of recorded thefts of unattended mobiles, wallets and purses from pubs, household property from gardens, and metal or industrial equipment.

The total number of crimes recorded by police fell by about 100,000 to 4.2 million over the last year.

In contrast, the BCS figures showed there were about 9.6 million crimes overall in 2010-11, compared with 9.5 million the previous year.

Downward-trend 'easing'

Officials advised "caution" over the burglary figures from the BCS saying the rise followed a figure for the previous year which was the lowest since records began.

They said some commentators had expected to see rises in acquisitive crime due to the recession and greater unemployment but there was no firm evidence for this.

"Despite difficult economic conditions these latest statistics show no consistent evidence of upward pressure across the range of acquisitive crime," the researchers concluded.

But they said both sets of figures indicated that the long-term downward trend in crime since the mid-1990s was "easing".