Almost a fifth of murders in England and Wales are now committed by people who are on parole, shocking new figures reveal today.

Failures by the probation service to supervise prisoners properly once they are released is now reaching crisis point, according to experts, with a 63 per cent increase in the number of homicides committed by ex-inmates.

The shocking figures have led to calls for urgent investment in the probation system, which is still reeling from disastrous reforms which placed some of the services in the hands of private companies.

Figures obtained by The Telegraph reveal that in the year ending March 2017 there were 613 homicides in England and Wales, 112 of which were at the hands of people on parole.

In the following 12 months, the murder rate went up to 695, not counting the 31 terror attack victims, with 114 killed by people on probation.

Over the two-year period, the number of homicides in which the offender was on supervision or parole touched almost 18 per cent and since 2015 the increase has been a shocking 63.3 per cent.

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts, who obtained the data through a series of parliamentary questions, said: "This is an extremely worrying development. The Ministry of Justice must implement its new reforms without delay. Preventing homicide by criminals under state supervision must be a priority."