Stats 'to underestimate gun crime'

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The number of firearms incidents dealt with by police forces in England and Wales annually is 60% higher than data set to be published on Thursday.

The Sunday Telegraph claimed that whereas the Home Office said there were some 9,800 offences in 2007/08, the real total was around 15,400. The latest quarterly figures will again exclude a significant number of incidents, according to the paper.

It is claimed the difference in the figures is due to the fact that the Home Office only includes cases where guns are fired, used to assault victims or brandished as a threat.

Thousands of other offences - including gun smuggling and illegal possession - will be omitted. Figures on gun crime deaths and injuries are also higher than official statistics will show.

Using data requested under the Freedom of Information Act, the paper reported that the Metropolitan Police's official total of 3,300 gun crimes in 2006/07, the most recent available, would have risen to around 5,000 if excluded categories had been counted.

The second-highest number of offences excluded from the official statistics was recorded by West Midlands Police with 404, taking the force's true annual total of gun crimes to 1,383.

Sussex Police recorded 300 excluded offences taking their total to 384 and Merseyside Police recorded 214 excluded offences, making the true number 624.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said the figures were "alarming" and called for statistics to be compiled independently of the Home Office.

He said: "These alarming new figures not only highlight the appalling state of gun crime in this country, but also remind us just how poor the Government's statistics actually are. Crime statistics must also be compiled and published independent of the Home Office and crime mapping rolled out so that people can have confidence in what they are being told about the state of crime in this country."