Crime in Redbridge has risen in the last year, with home burglaries up almost 15 per cent.

Cases of robbery, rape and other sexual offences have all also seen sharp rises in 2011 compared to 2010, of between 12 to 20 per cent.

Violence against the person and motor vehicle crime have all fallen in the last 12 months, figures released by the Metropolitan Police show.

Police chiefs have stepped up their efforts to combat borough burglaries, with an announcement in November that more officers would be deployed to the area.

But in the 2011 figures, residential burglaries stand at 3,096, compared with 2,645 the previous year.

Non-residential burglaries have fallen slightly to 695, while robbery against the person has leapt from 818 in 2010 to 1,077 last year.

Gun crime has increased slightly, from 64 to 68, while incidents of domestic crime remained virtually unchanged with 1,205 cases.

Borough commander Det Ch Supt Sue Williams said: “It is difficult because year on year burglary has increased slightly.

“Over the last few months we’ve brought the increase [in burglaries] down so that’s something positive.

“The burglary team has a scenes of crime officer that is called to every scene and attendance at scenes is 95 per cent, one of the highest in the Met.”

Motor Vehicle crime has fallen by more than three per cent to 4,457, while racist and religious hate crime and homophobic crime both fell slightly.

There were 107 incidents of rape in 2011, compared with 87 the previous year, while other sexual offences were reported 165 times, up from 146 in 2010.

There were three murders last year, one more than in 2010.

In total, there were 24,890 crimes reported in Redbridge last year, which is up 3.7 per cent on the previous 12 months.