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The Government's latest crime figures were condemned as "truly terrible" by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year.

Criminals used handguns in 46% more offences, Home Office statistics revealed.

Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362.

It was the fourth consecutive year to see a rise

and there were more than 2,200 more gun crimes last year than the previous peak in 1993.

Figures showed the number of crimes involving handguns had more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871.

Unadjusted figures showed overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3%, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.

With new recording procedures taken into account the actual overall rise was just 2%, the Home Office said.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said: "These figures are truly terrible.

"Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are gun-related crimes, domestic burglary, retail burglary, and drug offences.

"The only word for this is failure: the Government's response of knee-jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.

"The figures will continue to be dreadful until the Government produces a coherent long term strategy to attack crime at its roots and get police visibly back on our streets."

Gun crime would not be cracked until gangs were broken up and the streets "reclaimed for the honest citizen by proper neighbourhood policing", he added.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said the figures must prompt "a new, tougher approach" towards people who carry guns.

"Gangs which use and glorify guns as status symbols must be relentlessly targeted by the police," he added.

Home Office statistics showed gun crime has soared by nearly 600% since 1978 - when there were 1,437 firearms offences.

Gun crime has also increased by 65% since 1996, the year before Labour came to power.

Publishing today's figures, Home Office minister John Denham said: "I am concerned at the significant rise that we have seen in firearm offences.

"The number of male homicide victims of shootings was up 41% on the previous year and the proportion of crime in which firearms were used increased from 0.3% to 0.4%.

"We announced earlier this week that we would be introducing a five-year minimum sentence for possession of a firearm as well as new offences to tighten up the law on air weapons and replica firearms.

"The Home Secretary is holding a round table meeting tomorrow with key groups to make sure we are doing all we can to tackle gun crime."

He went on: "The overall crime picture shows a lot of progress.

"We must target our efforts on those areas that have not been moving in the right direction."

Domestic burglary figures increased 7.9% (or increased 5% when adjusted), figures which are likely to embarrass ministers in the wake of the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor's comments on jailing burglars.

Drug offences rose 12.3% and robbery was up 14.5% (up 13% adjusted).

The number of homicide victims killed by firearms increased 32%, or 23 cases, in the year to April 2002.

Overall there was a 1% rise in the number of homicides to 858 in England and Wales.

Violence against the person soared by 28% in the three months to September last year, which the Home Office adjusted to a 4% rise.

Over the same period sex offences were up 25.6%, but ministers said both crime categories had been inflated by changes to the way police record crime.

Three-quarters of firearms offences during the year, excluding air guns, took place in just five police forces: Metropolitan (42% of the total), Greater Manchester (14%), West Midlands (13%), West Yorkshire and Merseyside (both 3%).

The Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on crime policy, Paul Hampson, said: "The recent rise in firearms offences concerns all of us.

"Acpo is very supportive of the Government's intention to strengthen the law in relation to illegally-held firearms."

On burglary, Home Office statistics chief Professor Paul Wiles said the updated British Crime Survey (BCS), also published today, showed domestic burglary had fallen 7%, while recorded crime showed a "very tiny" increase of 2% in adjusted figures for the three months to September.

"The only sensible judgment from that is that we have a stable burglary position," he said.

Mr Denham added that the survey also showed there was a "worrying lack of confidence in the criminal justice system" with 44% of adults believing it was effective in bringing people to justice.

It was a priority of the Government to tackle that issue this year, he added.

Research from the BCS showed that less than half of adults (44%) believe the criminal justice system is effective in bringing people to justice.

Ministers claim that because the BCS is based on comprehensive victim-based research it is a more authoritative measure of crime.

Mr Denham said the survey showed that all crime was down by 7%, violent crime was down by 2%, domestic burglary was down by 7% and vehicle theft by 14%.

He said the survey trends since 1997 showed all crime down by 27%, burglary by 39%, vehicle theft by 32% and violent crime by 26%.

The Shooting Sports Trust said the rise in armed crime proved that strong measures against guns following the Dunblane massacre were "a mistake" and warned moves to remove fake guns from the streets could drive more criminals to obtain real firearms.

Chief executive of crime reduction charity Nacro, Paul Cavadino, said: "The statistics show that crime in England and Wales is continuing to fall. This must be welcomed."