- A staggering 214,076 burglaries in England and Wales went unsolved last year
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Police failed to solve three quarters of burglaries and car thefts last year, shock figures reveal.
A staggering 214,076 burglaries in England and Wales – that’s 587 a day – went unsolved in the year to June 2023.
And just six per cent of break-ins resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed to court, according to analysis by the Liberal Democrats, who warned of a ‘crime catastrophe’.
Data shows 76 per cent of burglary and 77 per cent of car theft cases were closed with no suspect identified, with the proportion of undetected offences up six per cent on the previous year.
Just six per cent of break-ins resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed to court. (Stock image)
The Home Secretary ordered police to investigate every break-in if there is reasonable evidence, with forces agreeing to attend every burgled home.
Now the Lib Dems want a ‘burglary response guarantee’ made law.
Government data shows forces are also failing to tackle car theft. Unpunished cases rose by 20 per cent, with 77 per cent of stolen car reports dropped and 107,451 cases closed without a suspect identified.
The Home Secretary, pictured, ordered police to investigate every break-in if there is reasonable evidence, with forces agreeing to attend every burgled home
Just four per cent resulted in a suspect charged or summoned to court.
Overall, 2,159,583 cases across all crime types were closed without a suspect identified – 10 per cent up on the previous year and equivalent to 5,916 crimes going undetected every day.
Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said the figures are ‘a searing indictment of Suella Braverman’s record’.
The Home Office said ‘since 2010 our communities are safer’, with burglary, robbery and theft down 50 per cent, violent crime down 52 per cent, and ‘more police officers in England and Wales than ever before’.
