Exclusive: Scandal of 440,000 crimes by suspects on bail

An MP has demanded action over the “absolute scandal” after it emerged 16 crimes were committed every hour last year by people already suspected – or convicted – of other offences.

The statistics reveal that 10 per cent of all crimes committed in the past three years were carried out by someone on bail from either the police or the courts, prompting calls from police officers for the Government to get a grip on the problem.

Shipley Tory MP Philip Davies said: “This is an absolute scandal. Police officers tear their hair out at catching people committing crimes and being bang to rights and the magistrates courts allow them out on bail before they’ve been sentenced.

“That gives them a green light to commit more offences. If there are more offences to be considered that will delay their trial and unless they do something more serious then the offence they’ve already been charged with the likelihood is they won’t get anything added to their sentence.

“The whole system’s a complete farce and the abuse of bail is an absolute scandal. It’s creating hundreds of thousands of unnecessary victims of crime.”

The scale of offending while on bail is revealed as the coalition tries to overcome divisions over criminal justice, Mr Davies being one of the most prominent voices on the Tory right calling for Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to quit for being too soft on crime.

As well as being forced to drop plans to cut sentences in half for criminals who plead guilty at the first opportunity, Mr Clarke has been under fire for planning to limit the use of remanding suspects in custody as the Government seeks to save money.

That controversy will be further fuelled by the Ministry of Justice statistics which show that between 2008 and 2010, 442,906 offences were committed while people were on bail from either the police or the courts. Some people will have been arrested and bailed while further inquiries are carried out, some will have been charged and are awaiting a trial and others will already have been convicted but are awaiting sentence.

In 2010, the 142,537 crimes committed by people on bail represented 10.7 per cent of all recorded offences.

While the Government seeks to reduce the 85,000 prison population Mr Davies wants more offenders to be put into custody and to “substantially” increase penalties for people who commit offences when they’re on bail.

“When people released on bail then breach their bail conditions surely they should be sent to custody,” he said.

Victims campaigner Norman Brennan said the figures were shocking but the public was becoming immune to them.

“It just goes to show the contempt that so many of our criminals now have,” he said. “They use their lawyers to get them bail as an opportunity to commit further offences and the sad reality is this will continue to happen.”

North Yorkshire Police Federation chairman Mark Botham said: “It is disappointing that anyone granted bail goes on to commit further offences, regardless of whether the bail is that from the police or imposed by a court.

“Given the much publicised vision of Ken Clarke on sentencing and prison places and the draconian 20 per cent police cuts I hope there is a way of reducing the amount of offending on bail and would welcome sight of Ministry of Justice proposals on how this will be achieved.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The decision to grant bail in individual cases must always be a matter for the courts as only they have the full facts of each case. The independence of the judiciary is a cornerstone of our justice system.

“The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 included measures to strengthen the law on bail in order to increase public protection. These measures require courts, when considering bail, to have regard to whether further offending is likely to cause injury, as well as introducing stricter bail criteria for defendants charged with murder.”