Sex crimes in Scotland increased by 15% last year to the highest level in more than five decades, official figures revealed yesterday.

Data compiled by Scotland’s chief statistician also showed non-sexual crimes of violence increased by 12%, going from 61,913 in 2020 to 2021 to 69,826 the following year.

Despite an overall drop in crimes recorded by Police Scotland last year, the number of sexual crimes rose to 15,049, the highest total since 1971.

The Scottish Conservatives claimed the figures showed ‘violent and sexual crime is spiralling out of control’, while the Scottish Liberal Democrats accused the SNP of ‘presiding over a wave of violent and sexual crime’.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Politics Matters