Shocking figures show a record number of reported rapes in the UK

The number of rapes recorded by police across the country has hit a new record, while the number of assaults in London has risen by 10 percent, official figures revealed today.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the 63,136 rapes in England and Wales were the “highest annual number of rape offenses ever recorded” and accounted for 37 percent of the 170,973 sexual offenses in the 12 months to the end of September last year.

It was also revealed that the total number of rapes in London over the same period was 8,406 – representing one in eight of these crimes nationwide – just ten times lower than the capital’s all-time high in 2019.

The latest London figure, which means 769 more such crimes were recorded in London last year, also includes a 41 per cent rise in knife rapes to a new annual total of 154.

It is part of 22,026 sexual offenses committed in the capital in the 12 months to the end of September last year.

The ONS warned that the new figures could be the result of “high-profile cases and victim-reporting campaigns” in the number of reported rapes, and that last year’s figures had been suppressed by the impact of lockdowns.

The grim figures will nonetheless heighten concerns about the problem of violence against women, which has been the focus of intense political and public debate since the murder of Sarah Everard and other murders in the capital and elsewhere.

Other statistics published today were more encouraging, showing a 17.2 per cent drop in knife crime in London over the year covered by the figures. However, there were eight more knife murders in the capital, with 84 knife murders recorded, compared to 76 the previous year.