Mayor praises Met over 12 per cent fall in knife crimes

The statistics show that the total number of crimes in the capital declined by three per cent last year - equivalent to 25,000 offences.

The biggest falls included gun crime, down 26 per cent compared with the 2007 total, and robbery, which was 17.6per cent lower.

Burglary dropped by one per cent and serious violent crimes which resulted an injury to the victim were down by more than three per cent.

Knife crime, which was only recorded as a separate category from April, declined by 12 per cent over that period - despite the surge in fatal teenage stabbings - as the increased use of stop and search powers, educational campaigns about the dangers of blades, and the wider deployment of metal scanners appeared to pay dividends.

The positive picture was marred, however, by a 16 per cent rise in the number of rapes - which equated to an extra 306 crimes - and a six per cent increase in domestic violence cases.

The Met claimed the rises were at least partly the result of encouraging more women to report offences, but the size of the increases, particularly in the rape figure, will prompt concern that London might also be witnessing a growth in the number of attacks.

Despite this, the decline in overall crime in London, the sixth consecutive annual fall, was welcomed by Met Acting Deputy Commissioner Tim Godwin and Mayor Boris Johnson. MrGodwin cautioned that the number of young people falling victim to knife and gun crime remained "unacceptable", but expressed optimism that police were making progress in combating the problem.

"These figures show that London is getting safer and that our strategies and those of our partners in tackling knife and gun crime are beginning to take effect. We are not complacent and there is far more to be done."

The Mayor, who chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "Top marks to the women and men of the Met for a good and encouraging performance over the last 12 months. We are making substantial progress in a number of areas, especially gun and knife crime and I am pleased that we are bucking the national trend.

"But now is not the time to relax and congratulate ourselves. Quite the reverse. Now is the time to work even harder in the battle to take back the streets."

Today's figures also show that the Met's official detection rate rose to 26.6per cent last year, compared with 24 per cent the previous year.

Although that means that about three quarters of crimes are not solved, the Met has exceeded its target by achieving this year's figure and has been improving its performance steadily, although slowly, over recent years.

This year's statistics also include a new category of "most serious violence and assault with injury", which shows 2,398 fewer such offences last year, compared with the previous year - a decline of 3.2 per cent.

No figure is given for the number of other, lesser, offences, such as assaults not resulting in injury, that were previously classed as violent crime.