Violent crime increases in Wolverhampton city centre

There were 112 more violent crimes or sexual offences in and around the city centre up to November compared to the same period last year.

In total there were 693 violent crimes, up from 581 in 2018, with an almost month on month increase.

In one of the acts of violence, Daniel Iftikhar attacked a boy with a hammer outside the Wulfrun Centre on April 15.

The 18-year-old, from Tipton, was locked up for 10 years at a court hearing in August.

Meanwhile, three men were stabbed after a night of violence in the city centre just days later also April.

Officers were called to North Street, near to Wolverhampton Civic Hall, where two men were found seriously injured on the floor.

A man was stabbed in the back after trouble flared in on Spring bank holiday weekend.

It was thought that violence erupted again close to Wolverhampton Civic Hall in the early hours of Monday.

The victim was later stabbed in Humphries Road, in the Low Hill area of the city.

In October, a man was seriously injured after being slashed with a knife.

The attack happened at Banjul nightclub, in Queen Street, formerly the Cobra Lounge, on October 5.

Overall crime falls

While violent crime increased in the centre of the city, overall crime went down.

During November there were 61 violent crimes or sexual offences, compared to 54 which happened 12 months earlier.

The figures have been revealed following analysis of crime statistics for the city centre police area, which is mostly inside the ring road, on the police.uk website.

In total, there were 195 crimes recorded in the city centre in November, the lowest at any point over the last two years.

Other crimes included criminal damage and arson (18), shoplifting (29) and theft (20).

There were also more incidents involving possessions of weapons in Wolverhampton city centre.

Police were called to deal with 33 of these incidents, up from 26 in 2018.

There has been a surge in violent crime, including knife attacks, in the West Midlands region as a whole over the last couple of years, prompting concern and calls for action from police chiefs.

The launch of a £4 million Violence Reduction Unit was announced by West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson in October in a bid to tackle the rapid rise in gun and knife crime on the region’s streets.

Mr Jamieson says the body will be a “real force” in reducing the number of victims by addressing the root causes of crime and focusing on prevention. Teenagers will also be targeted as part of educational programmes in schools.

It was revealed earlier this month that West Midlands Police is still likely to be left with 900 fewer officers than it had in 2010, even after Boris Johnson's planned recruitment drive. The force is expected to be bolstered by 1,200 new officers by 2023.