Domestic violence increased by 3.5%

The number of sexual offences have also increased by 6.5% according to the statistics released on Thursday.

Overall crime has fallen by just over 45,000 - or 4.3% - compared with 2003/2004, with more crimes, such as rape and robbery, being solved.

Gun crime, murders and burglary have also fallen, accord to the Met.

The statistics show that violence against the person such as harassment and assaults rose by 8.5%, domestic violence increased by 3.5% and homophobic assaults rose by 8.6% compared with the same period in the previous year.

CRIME FIGURES Violence against the person up 8.5% Gun crime down 11% Robbery down 4% Vehicle crime down15% Domestic burglary down 7.2% Rape down 4.9% Racist crime down 2.9% Crime figures by borough

The number of murders fell by 11% which equates to 22 fewer people killed in 2004/5 and there were 125 fewer rapes recorded in the same period.

A spokesman for the Met said the introduction of new powers, such as issuing a fixed penalty notices often for an incident where violence and alcohol is involved, contributing to the increase in the number of recorded violent crime.

He added the rise in sexual offences was a consequence of new legislation, in particular the recording of indecent exposure as a criminal offence.

The overall police figures for England and Wales show that violent crime has increased by 9%.

According to the national statistics the total number of crimes recorded by police fell 5% in the quarter to 1,381,400, compared with the same period the previous year.

The British Crime survey, which is based on thousands of interviews asking people about their experiences of crime, was also published on Thursday and shows violent crime fell by 10%.