THE number of crimes committed in Greater Manchester has reached its highest level since 2009.

New figures released by the ONS show that the 264,747 crimes were recorded by Greater Manchester Police in the year ending March 31 2017.

This is up from 224,867 in 2016, an increase of almost 40,000 crimes and 17 per cent.

The last time this many crimes were committed in the region was the year ending March 31 2009, when 283,176 offences were recorded.

Crime was at its lowest in the year ending March 2013, when 181,055 and last year's figure is up almost 50 per cent on this.

Every category of crime recorded by GMP increased from the year ending March 2016 to the year ending March 2017, except drug offences, which fell from 4987 to 4163.

There were 55 murders in the past year, up from 39 the year before, making this the worst year for murders since 2005.

Violent crimes which caused injury went up from 21,188 to 22,838 while violent crimes without injury went up from 30,474 to 43,652, the highest level of any crime category.

There were 17,993 shoplifting offences committed, up from 16,710 the year before and the highest level for shoplifting since the figures started being recorded in 2003.

Public order offences almost doubled from 13,478 in the year ending March 2016 to 24,098 last year.

There were 37,150 criminal damage and arson offences, also the highest level since 2009.