Crime figures show murders, sexual offences and serious assaults decrease

THE number of murders, sexual offences and serious assaults reported to gardaí fell significantly last year, official statistics show.

However, the two biggest categories of serious crime, burglaries and theft from a shop, increased slightly on 2002. Provisional statistics on reported serious crime, known as headline offences, for 2003 show there were almost 2,300 fewer serious crimes.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said: “I think the crime figures don’t give us room for complacency, but they show the upward spiral in crime has in fact ended and it is marginally down on last year. What is of particular interest is that, with crimes such as murder, rape, aggravated sexual assault and manslaughter, which many people consider the most serious of crimes, there has been a very significant reduction.”