Police are failing to solve nine out of 10 burglaries in the capital

Burglaries unsolved: police on duty in London
Anthony Devlin/PA

Nine out of 10 burglaries in London — of both private homes and businesses — go unsolved, according to figures revealed today.

Analysis of police statistics show 45 per cent of London burglary cases were closed last year without even identifying a suspect.

A further 49 per cent of break-ins in 2016 remain “under investigation” a year on.

The figures emerged as Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said police will not “go in for meaningless activity” and continue to investigate crimes including burglary that have “no investigative opportunities”.

A police watchdog has warned of a shortage of detectives and excessive workloads in CID units across the UK.

The figures, compiled by Locksmithservice.co.uk, show that Hammersmith & Fulham was the worst borough for unsolved burglary, with 61 per cent of its 1,542 burglaries closed with no suspect ever being identified.

In Westminster, which had the second highest number of burglaries last year behind Barnet, investigations into just over half of all its 3,288 break-ins were shut down with no suspect found, and 1,296 further burglaries in the borough were still “under investigation”.

Since 2011, there have been 493,257 recorded burglaries in London, with just eight per cent of them solved.

Londoners lost £928 million in raids with just £35.4 million recovered.

Yvette Cooper, a Labour MP and chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee prior to the election being called, said: “These figures show too many criminals who violate people’s homes are getting away with it.

“Crime is changing and there are increasing demands on police time and resource, which is why forces need more investment — and why we need the 10,000 extra officers Labour is promising rather than Tory capital gains tax cuts for the very richest.”

The Met claims the number of household break-ins has fallen to an all-time low in the capital.

Ms Dick said her officers would always attend burglaries but in future “choices” had to be made when it came to allocating investigative resources.

She said: “Where there are no investigative opportunities after our first contact with the public, I think the public would actually prefer us to get on with dealing with something where we can have a criminal justice outcome ... We are not going to go in for meaningless activity.”

Victor Baron, managing director of Locksmithservice.co.uk, said: “Many of the victims of burglary that we deal with are left feeling vulnerable and frustrated by the crime, with little faith that their perpetrators will be brought to justice.”

A spokeswoman for the Met said: “We accept there is more work to be done — and are always seeking ways to increase the number of these crimes we solve.”

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