Burglars back in credit crunch crime wave

By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor

Britain is in the grip of a recession-fuelled crime wave as the jobless turn to burglary and pickpocketing to make a living, new figures suggest.

The British Crime Survey showed bag snatches and pickpocket thefts rose by 25 per cent in a year. Home break-ins were up 4 per cent in the last three months of 2008, to 75,600 – the first time in seven years that burglaries have risen for six months in a row.

Forces in England and Wales recorded a 5 per cent increase in robberies at knifepoint. From October to December, drug offences rose by 6 per cent.

But overall, property crime fell by 4 per cent, due to falls in vehicle break-ins and criminal damage. Total recorded crime was also down 4 per cent and there was a fall in fatal stabbings.

"We are facing a credit crunch crime wave," the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said.