SEXUAL offences soared by 40 per cent in Wiltshire last year but recorded crime fell overall, the Home Office has revealed.

The latest official figures show Wiltshire’s jump in sexual offences in the year to September 2010 was the largest for any force area in the country.

The rise far outstripped the South West average of five per cent, and the average of seven per cent across England and Wales.

However, overall crime in Wiltshire fell by seven per cent, with large reductions in fraud and forgery, and criminal damage.

Wiltshire Police claims there were more sexual offences recorded, not because there were more such offences, but because the force was campaigning for victims to report crimes.

The force says that the campaign led to many sex crimes being detected and claims the statistics for April 2010 to March 2011 will show a significant improvement.

Inspector Mike White, of Wiltshire Police, said: “Between April 2009 and February 2010 acquisitive crime in Wiltshire had reduced by 10 per cent.

“Since April 2010 specific focus has been placed on tackling violent crime and we are now seeing the benefits of activities put in place to improve this area .

“Although we have focused our efforts on reducing violent crime, all crime types have continued to be monitored.

“A consistent rise in acquisitive crime was identified from June to September 2010 where at this point we were able to provide increased policing to address this concern.

Since that time we have seen a measured reduction in this area.

“In relation to sexual offences, a concerted effort has been made by specialist officers working with victims of such crimes.

“This application of effort has led those victims to gain confidence in the police and encouraged reporting of offences.

“We can attribute an increase in reported offences to being historic in nature, which is consistent with the rise in confidence.”

According to the Home Office statistics, there were 694 sex offences recorded in Wiltshire over the period – a 40 per cent rise compared to the previous 12 months.

The figures also show that burglary in a dwelling increased by nine per cent and violence against the person causing injury rose by eight per cent.

This compares to falls of six per cent and three per cent respectively across the region. Other category of offences which increased slightly in Wiltshire are violence against the person, robbery, burglary and vehicle offences.

However, fraud and forgery was down by 23 per cent and criminal damage fell 20 per cent, while there was also slight reductions in violence against the person without injury, theft not relating to vehicles, and drug offences.

Wiltshire has the second lowest crime rate per head of population within the South West region and sixth lowest in the country.