Revealed: Just one in 20 burglaries in London solved... as worst streets for moped crime are named

Scotland Yard today admitted there is “more work to be done” as it emerged only about one in 20 burglaries in London are solved.

The Metropolitan Police said sanction detection rates, the way it measures cases that are solved, were 5.5 per cent for burglary and 7 per cent for robbery between April 2017 and April 2018.

That compared to an overall rate of 13.2 per cent for all offences included in the statistics.

The force also said it is putting a "huge amount of effort" into tackling a rise in moped-related crime after The Sunday Times revealed two streets in London are the worst-affected in the UK.

Holloway Road and Highgate Hill, both in north London had the highest number of moped crimes between 2012 and 2017.

Holloway Road saw 111 robberies last year, only one of which has been solved, while Highgate Hill saw 48, with none solved.

It came as Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed he fell victim to thieves on a moped who stole his phone near Euston station while, earlier this month, comedian Michael McIntyre was robbed of his watch by moped-riding crooks in a violent incident.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the Met is “doing all we can to cut crime, pursue offenders and support victims to make London even safer”.

She added: "Burglary presents particular challenges in regard to identifying those responsible and we accept there is more work to be done - and are always seeking ways to increase the number of these crimes we solve.

"A number of robbery offences can be attributed to scooter-related crime. The Met has been putting a huge amount of effort into stemming the rise in these offences and bringing offenders to justice."

According to the Sunday Times, national police data shows the proportion of suspects who are caught and punished for all crimes has more than halved to 9% over the past five years.

The figures also suggested only 4% of robberies were solved in England and Wales in 2017, while it was 9% in 2013.

Data for the same period indicated the burglary detection rate halved from 6% to 3%.

The National Police Chiefs' Council's spokesman on crime recording and statistics, Chief Constable Bill Skelly, told the Sunday Times there had been improvements in how police record their crimes.

Among the offences recorded are those with "no suspect and little prospect of a criminal justice outcome", he told the paper.