RISING levels of violence and theft are behind the largest annual increase in crime recorded by police in a decade, figures show.

The number of crimes recorded by police in England and Wales was nearly five million in the year to March, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It marks a 10% rise compared with the same 12-month period a year earlier.

The data was released on the day a Home Office report said police officer numbers have fallen to the lowest level in more than 30 years.

Police recorded 458,021 more offences, which the ONS said was partly driven by a rise in violence against the person, which soared 18% to 175,060 offences.

A long-term decline in the rate of theft was also reversed, rising 7% to 118,774, while public order offences jumped 39% to 78,697.

Sexual offences rose 14% to the highest level since new recording standards were introduced in 2002, although the year-on-year rate of increase has slowed.

John Flatley, head of crime statistics for the ONS, said: "The latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade.

"While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories."

Violence with injury jumped by 8% and violence without injury rose by a quarter, including an increase in assaults without injury.

Knife and gun crime rose by more than a fifth, with 5,800 more offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, and an increase of 1,200 involving a firearm.

The use of handguns in firearms offences rose 24%, the ONS said.

There were also increases in the assault without injury category that includes modern slavery, which rose by 1,385 offences, and stalking, up 1,135.

There were 723 homicides, an increase of 1,489 on the previous year, but this includes the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster, the ONS said. When those cases are excluded, homicides rose by 9%.

Robbery was up 16%, or around 8,000 offences.

In a different measure, there were about 11 million offences covered by the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), including new experimental figures of fraud and cyber crimes.

But the ONS said there was an overall 7% reduction recorded by the CSEW when fraud and cyber crimes were excluded - falling from 6.3 million to 5.9 million.

The CSEW asks victims about experiences of a range of crimes but does not include the exact types measured by police figures, such as shoplifting, public order offences and possession of weapons.

Some 35,000 households are questioned for the CSEW and the response rate is 73%.

Mr Flatley said: "The Crime Survey is a good measure of the population of the crimes that it covers but it doesn't cover all crime and it doesn't cover all victims.

"It's an effective measure of the crimes it was designed to measure but it was never designed to be a measure of total crime."

Downing Street said the CSEW - previously known as the British Crime Survey - was the "more reliable" measure.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "There is a 7% fall in the British Crime Survey, which the ONS says is a statistically significant fall from the previous year. The ONS do say that the more reliable of the two measures is the British Crime Survey."

Rachel Almeida, Victim Support's head of policy, said the rising figures are "a great cause for concern, especially given the increase in recorded violent crimes, threatening behaviour and theft".

She added: "These types of crime in particular can cause deep emotional, physical and psychological effects on victims.

"We must ensure that victims have the support and help they deserve to enable them to move beyond their ordeal and begin to rebuild their lives."

Wiltshire Policed said the increase in recorded crime has slowed.

Wiltshire Police said in a statement: "In the 12 months to March 2017, we’ve seen a nine per cent increase in recorded crime, compared to a national increase of ten per cent.

"Although the dramatic improvement in the quality of crime recording has impacted on the results, there are still spikes in burglary and vehicle crime.

"Tackling burglary is now a Force priority and we’ve also invested in our crime prevention awareness concerning vehicle crime.

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson said: “The early introduction of ethical crime recording and improved recording has given Wiltshire Police a better understanding of crime across the county and how to respond.

“I am reassured to see the nine percent increase in recorded crime in Wiltshire is below the national picture of ten per cent.

“Wiltshire Police is consistently working to improve recording practices, and I am pleased that as other police forces change their recording practices and accuracy improves, we are now beginning to see the increase in recorded crime slowing and the data stabilising.

“Earlier this year I welcomed HMIC to carry out their first crime data integrity inspection, and I look forward to receiving their report.

“Although I continue to highlight the increases in crime as being reflective of recording practices, at no point am I, or the Chief Constable becoming complacent.

“The force has recognised the increase in domestic burglary and vehicle crime, and I am pleased to see the force is responding to the concerns that I and the wider community have about these crimes.

“I would like to thank the Chief Constable, officers and staff for the commitment they have shown in ensuring that robust recording practices in Wiltshire are in place.”

Assistant Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said: “Although the increase in recorded crime is slowing, we are by no means becoming complacent when it comes to tackling criminality.

“We were one of the first police forces in the country to dramatically improve our crime recording compliance and we are now starting to see this positive change reflected in the recorded crime statistics.

“Clearly, having a stricter approach to recording crime means this will impact on the figures.

“It is vital that our recording practices paint a true picture of crime in the county, to enable us to allocate the right resources in the right places. This demand management is at the heart of our Community Policing Team

“We identified burglary as an emerging issue prior to this report being published and we’ve been focusing on how we respond to these crimes appropriately; making sure we deploy the right resources, identifying links between burglaries and ensuring that all investigative lines of enquiry are followed.

“The local community continue to be a vital resource for us in tackling burglary and their engagement in our recent public consultations gives us a better chance of catching the offenders.

“Just this week we launched a new public engagement campaign to drive up public awareness on this type of crime.”