Killings rose by 14 per cent to 739 last year, and increase of 90 homicides recorded in England and Wales than in the previous 12 months.

Knife crime rose by 12 per cent as nearly 40,000 were reported to police according to shocking new crime statistics released by the Office for National Statistics today. That brings the average daily total to more than 100.

Rape increased by 16 per cent to 56,698 offences and other sex offences rose 13 per cent to 101,464. About 20 per cent of those were against children.

As crime statistics reveal an increase in homicides in the capital, 54 of last year's victims of London murders are pictured above

This graph shows how homicides increased not just last year, but have been increasing over the last four

Knife crime hit nearly 40,000 incidents in shocking new crime statistics released by the Office for National Statistics today

Knife crime was on the up in the year to September 2018, according to the the figures released by the ONS today

Police found an eight per cent rise in offences with knives or other sharp instruments.

Paedophiles using the web to groom children Paedophiles are increasingly exploiting the web, with 9,543 crimes recorded in the last year. Rape, sexual assault and grooming are included in the crimes committed after child abusers contacted their victim online. Cyber-related crimes made up 16 per cent of the total number of child sexual offences recorded by police in the year to September 2018. The NSPCC says this may not reveal the true extent of the problem due to wide variation and under-recording of the role of online in these crimes. A 10-year-old girl told the charity that a man claiming to be 21 convinced her to send naked pictures of herself online. At the age of 12 she met him in person and he was in his late 30s. What began as online grooming morphed into physical, sexual abuse. She said: 'I couldn't get away from him. I didn't want to be involved with him anymore but he would always blackmail me. 'He would make it seem like I was the one doing something wrong. The sexual abuse lasted three years. It impacts everything in your life.' Advertisement

Robbery is up by 17 per cent and there has also been a 24 per cent climb in public order offences, with a total of 427,134 recorded.

There was a three per cent rise in vehicle offences to 457,433, largely due to a 10 per cent jump in 'theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle'.

More than 20 per cent of the population fell victim to crime, according to the survey.

The homicide figures do not include victims of terror attacks. Statisticians said this continues an upward trend since March 2014, indicating a change to the long-term decrease over the previous decade.

The data show that overall crime rose by seven per cent, with a total of 5,723,182 offences recorded.

This is the highest number in a 12-month period since the year ending March 2004, when there were 6.01 million offences recorded.

Crimes involving violence against the person are up by 19 per cent, which includes a 41 per cent increase in stalking and harassment offences.

Figures released by the British Transport Police (BTP) this week suggest knife crime on Britain's rail network has more than tripled in the last three years.

Many of the higher-harm types of violence are concentrated in London and other metropolitan areas, 128 homicides in the capital last year - the highest level in a calendar year this decade.

Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman said: 'These statistics show that your chance of being a victim of crime remains low, but we recognise that certain crimes - particularly violent crime - have increased, and we are taking action to address this.

'The Offensive Weapons Bill will give police extra powers to tackle knife crime and to get weapons off the street. The serious violence strategy puts a greater focus on early intervention and stopping young people from being drawn into crime in the first place.

'We have also put forward the biggest increase in police funding since 2010. It's encouraging to see the first signs of police officer numbers rising in the statistics today.'

Commenting on the figures, Helen Ross, from the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice, said: 'In recent decades we've seen the overall level of crime falling, but in the last year, it remained level.

'There are variations within this overall figure, depending on the type of crime.

'Burglary, shoplifting and computer misuse are decreasing but others, such as vehicle offences and robbery are rising.

'We have also seen increases in some types of 'lower-volume, high-harm' violence including offences involving knives or sharp instruments.'

Alex Mayes, policy and public affairs adviser at charity Victim Support, said: 'These figures starkly highlight the devastating human cost of the recent rises in serious violence that we've seen across the country.

'Working with bereaved families through our national homicide service we know just how destructive these shocking crimes are.'