Violent crime is on the increase in the West Midlands – official Home Office figures have showed.

They reveal that the number of robberies went up by two per cent in 2008-09 to 7,820.

Of these, 1,854 incidents – one in five – involved the use of a knife.

Crimes involving fraud and forgery rose by eight per cent, while drug offences rose by three per cent.

Overall, West Midlands Police recorded an eight per cent reduction in crime last year to 227,720 offences.

Nationally, all police-recorded crime was down by five per cent to 4.7 million crimes. The number of killings nationally also fell last year to hit a 20-year low.

There were 136 fewer homicides – including murder, manslaughter and child killings – in 2008-09 compared with a year earlier, representing a fall of 17 per cent.

But figures showed the impact of the failing economy, with shoplifting rocketing by 10 per cent, fraudulent crime by five per cent and domestic burglaries were up one per cent.

All are thought to indicating a rise in recession-related crime. This was supported by the British Crime Survey, which gives a better indication of trends in crime by speaking to victims, which found a 25 per cent rise in thefts from a person.

But David Blunt, Home Office chief statistician, insisted that it was difficult to measure the impact of the recession on crime.

He said: “There may have been pressures coming through but the impact of this recession is different from previous ones. Previous ones have been at times of increasing crime.

“This one is at a time of falling crime rates.”