Seven killings in the borough in the last year have paved the way for Croydon's latest crime statistics released today, which shows a number of significant rises.

Sexual offences have risen by almost 40 incidents in the last year while robberies on businesses have increased by 11 per cent.

The figures, released by the Met Police, show the number of crimes which have been and are still currently being investigated by police in the last year from November 2006 to November 2007.

Homophobic crime has also increased significantly in comparison to last year's figures.

In the 12 months to November 2006 Croydon Police investigated 17 incidents but in the last year, up until November 2007, there were 24.

Overall across the borough, the average crime figures have seen a decrease of five per cent - with the total number of incidents decreasing from 32,506 in 2006 to 30,862 in 2007.