Halifax MP reacts to figures 40 per cent of West Yorkshire crimes going unsolved.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that while 603,401 offences were recorded by the region’s four police forces in 2019, 240,587 were shut down with no suspects identified.

Analysis of all UK police forces carried out by Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran showed that both South and West Yorkshire Police closed nearly 45 per cent of all crimes reported last year. Humberside and North Yorkshire forces closed 36 per cent and 18 per cent of cases respectively.

A breakdown of the figures shows there were 3,145 sexual offences, including rape, closed across Yorkshire’s four counties, as well as 3,286 robberies written off. While the cases closed may not all be cases reported in the same year, the figures mean that 40 per cent of crimes reported were shelved.

Ms Moran said criminals in Yorkshire were “getting away scot-free” and that serious crimes were being filed with “nothing happening for months”, leaving victims “longing for justice”.

“It is scandalous that we are seeing so many crimes in Yorkshire and the Humber are closed without further investigation by police forces,” she said.

Labour’s Halifax MP Holly Lynch, whose father was a police officer, said: “Given the loss of 21,000 police officers across the country since 2010 under this Government, you can see the impact that this is having on the police’s ability to investigate and resolve cases.

“This data gathered by The Yorkshire Post reveals that for certain types of crime it is it the norm to see no restorative justice at all. As crime evolves and is becoming more complex, this will only become worse without transformational investment in policing.”

Nationally, the rate at which cases are being shelved has increased rapidly over the last decade, growing from 361,180 in 2010 to 2.2m last year, equivalent to 43 per cent of all recorded crimes.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are providing the biggest increase in funding for the police in over a decade and as part of that, Yorkshire police forces are receiving up to £1.134bn in funding in 2020/21, including precept.” He said Yorkshire forces had recruited 325 more officers recently.