Eight in 10 domestic burglaries go unsolved as almost 900,000 cases are closed without a suspect even being identified in the past five years – the same as the population of Leeds

Almost eight in every 10 burglaries in England and Wales has gone unsolved in the past five years, new figures reveal today.

Almost 900,000 out of 1.1million break-ins reported to police since 2019 have seen their cases closed by struggling forces without a suspect being identified, figures reveal.

And just five per cent of investigations led to a suspect being charged, according to a pre-Christmas analysis of Home Office statistics by the Liberal Democrats.

The party’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael called for a ‘Burglary Response Guarantee’ which would see officers sent to the scene of all beak-ins, saying: ‘It is disgraceful to think that in just five years, the number of unsolved burglaries could fill an entire city.

Almost 900,000 out of 1.1million break-ins reported to police since 2019 have seen their cases closed by struggling forces without a suspect being identified, figures reveal.

And just five per cent of investigations led to a suspect being charged, according to Home Office statistics.

‘Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own home, but burglary victims are being catastrophically let down. It is clear that the Conservatives are failing to get the basics right when it comes to solving crime.

‘Enough is enough. The Home Secretary must implement our Burglary Response Guarantee – to ensure that every burglary is responded to, and to end this shameful burglar bailout.’

In the summer former home secretary Sulla Braverman and police forces made an agreement to investigate all crimes.

Officers were told there was no crime too minor to be probed and police will be forced to act if there is tangible evidence to follow up, including CCTV footage, vehicle dashcams or phone tracking.

Mrs Braverman said no crime should be considered minor and insisted police forces had the resources to investigate all offences without having to divert efforts from serious investigations.

But last month the chairman of the Police Federation described the pledge as unfeasible – and said the investigation of every crime ‘is not working’.

The areas with the biggest rise in the number of burglaries during the past year have been revealed (scroll down for the full table of areas)

Earlier this year new data revealed more than 500 homes were burgled every day in England and Wales last year.

The figures from insurer Churchill were based on data from 44 police forces and found there were 527 home burglaries reported each day – an increase on 2021, when there were 523 burglaries a day.

The biggest increases in burglaries annually in percentage terms were in Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Cleveland, with an uptick of 39 per cent, 30 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

London residents reported the most burglaries last year, with the Metropolitan Police receiving 40,257 reports, followed by Greater Manchester at 16,761 and the West Midlands at 15,844 respectively.

Some of the biggest falls in domestic burglaries last year were in Devon and Cornwall, Merseyside, and South Wales.

In Devon and Cornwall, burglaries dropped 21 per cent in 2022 compared with the previous year, while burglaries also fell by 16 per cent in Merseyside and 12 per cent in South Wales.

The research found there were 3,536 aggravated domestic burglaries in 2022, where the criminal was armed with a firearm or weapon.

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