Firearms robberies soared by 10 per cent last year with more than one third involving guns being used in street muggings, Home Office figures showed today.

The surge in robberies where guns were used followed three years of decline and will alarm the Home Office which has pressed the police to tackle street robberies including mugging.

More than 1,400 street robberies involved firearms in 2005-2006 and there was also a huge jump in the number of armed robberies at homes.

The number of armed robberies at residential properties rose 46 per cent to 645 in 2005-2006 — a more than five-fold increase since Labour came to power.

The increase in firearms being used in street robberies and houses reflects criminals turning to soft targets while traditional targets such as banks, building societies and post offices either close branches or tighten security.

Other figures released today show that recorded crime in England and Wales between July and September last year fell by 3 per cent compared with the same period in 2005, with a marked drop in the number of offences that cause personal injury

Drug crimes and robbery increased again in the third quarter of 2006 but Tony Blair congratulated the police for the overall drop in crime.

"I would like to congratulate the police on today’s crime figures," said the Prime Minister in a statement. "The most feared crime — violence that causes injury — is down 7 per cent. Sexual offences are down 4 per cent and crimes involving firearms are down 14 per cent compared with last year."

"Tough laws — including a minimum five years for possessing a gun — are bearing fruit."

Drug offences continued their increase this year, rising by 9 cent between July and September. But the Home Office said the increase was largely due to police recording more cannabis offences, a trend that led to a rise of 16 per cent in the second quarter of the year. Robbery increased by 1 per cent, but the Home Office expressed its satisfaction at curbing a 5 per cent increase in the preceding three months.

The Home Office report noted that the 7 per cent fall in violence that causes injury was accompanied by an 8 per cent increase in violent crimes where the victim is left unharmed.

"The increase in those offences with no injury reflects where the police are pro-active in addressing low level violence and also reflects, in part, the increasing use of fixed penalty notices for harassment," the Home Office said.

Today's recorded crime figures were accompanied by annual statistics from the British Crime Survey (BCS), which is based on interviews with around 45,000 people and regarded by politicians as the most accurate guide to crime trends.

Overall, the BCS, which covered the year from October 2005 to September 2006, reflected a stable rate of crime, the Home Office said, although the risk of being a victim of crime increased marginally, from 23 per cent to 24 per cent. That figure remains markedly lower than the 40 per cent recorded in 1995.

The BCS interviews reflected the recorded fall in violent crimes that cause injury, and corresponding increase in crimes that cause no injury, but reported a much higher rate of vandalism, suggesting an 11 per cent increase and a 14 per cent rise in theft from the person.

Personal thefts and robbery have presented a noticeable challenge to the police, as seen in the recorded crime statistics for the last year, a trend that Home Office statisticians have ascribed to the tendency of more and more people to carrying mobile phones, MP3 players and personal organisers.

Tony McNulty, the Home Office Minister for policing, said today's robbery statistics were encouraging but showed there was still work to do.

"Robbery has been of concern in recent statistics but there were 23,000 fewer robberies committed last year than five years ago," he said. "We have made concerted efforts with police to further tackle the problems and have put into place the Robbery Action Plan, to help areas quickly get to grips with the problem."

The Home Office also released an analysis of homicide and so-called "intimate crime" statistics from 2005 to 2006 today. There were 766 murders in England and Wales last year, a fall of 9 per cent, despite the inclusion of the 52 victims of the July 7 bomb attacks.

Rates of "intimate crime", which includes domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking remained largely stable, with 28 per cent of women reporting non-sexual abuse from their partners. Stalking was the most commonly experienced form of intimate violence, the report said, with 12 per cent of women and 9 per cent of men suffering the attentions of a stalker in the last year.

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