Violent crime increases by 40% in Greater Manchester

Tony Lloyd (left) and Sir Peter Fahy have spoken about the increase in reported violent crimes

Violent crime in Greater Manchester rose by 40% in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In the year to March 2015, there were 41,176 such crimes recorded, compared with 29,466 during the previous year.

Overall crime in Greater Manchester was up 10% during the same 12-month period.

Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: "This increase in recorded violent crime is showing some worrying trends and placing huge demand and risk on a reducing number of staff."

His force has lost more than 1,100 officers since 2010.

Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd called on Prime Minister David Cameron to "stop chipping away at the police service" and "invest in the safety of our local communities."

'More challenging'

There were a total of 200,432 crimes recorded by Greater Manchester Police - a 10% rise, compared to 3% nationally.

Mr Lloyd said while police numbers were being cut, demands on police were increasing as they deal with more complex issues "such as child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse."

Reported sexual offences increased by 55% to 4,970 in 2014-15 while there was a 33.4 % rise in domestic violence in the region, with 19,621 recorded crimes.

Sir Peter added: "Many of these incidents are complex with vulnerable victims to be protected and dangerous offenders to be brought under control. We are bringing many more cases to court but keeping on top of this is getting more and more challenging."

On an average day, GMP deals with 532 crimes, including 51 daily victims of domestic abuse, 12 sexual assaults and 10 hate crimes.

National figures showed an increase in knife crime in England and Wales for the first time in four years.