From The Times
January 23, 2009

Ministers’ worst fears confirmed as the recession fuels crime surge



After a reported rise in break-ins, Jacqui Smith is to hold meetings with police, Neighbourhood Watch, Age Concern and DIY stores

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent
Burglaries, fraud and robberies at knifepoint have risen steeply, in the first sign that the recession is fuelling an increase in crime.

A rise in the number of house break-ins and fraud and forgery offences in the three months to September suggests that the decline in overall crime levels recorded in recent years is coming to an end. Domestic burglaries rose 4 per cent in the year while fraud and forgery cases went up 16 per cent, the latest official crime statistics showed yesterday.

The figures come months after a leaked memo to Gordon Brown warned that the Home Office feared that the economic downturn would result in an increase in crime.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, announced that an emergency “burglary summitâ€