Crime levels in Norfolk have surged by 10 percent with a leap in the number of violent and sexual offences.

Official figures released on Thursday showed there were 1,189 sexual offences in Norfolk in the year to September 2014 and 897 in Suffolk.

That represented a 40 per cent rise in sexual offences in Norfolk and a 28 per cent increase in Suffolk, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

There was also a 28 per cent increase in violent offences in Norfolk.

In Suffolk overall crime levels fell by seven per cent.

The high levels of sex and violent offences were reflected across the country.

Statisticians said the rise was down to improvement in recording as well as a greater willingness of victims to come forward to report such crimes.

The last batch of statistics revealed around 22,000 rapes in the year to June, which the ONS said then was the highest level on record.

Overall police recorded crime showed no change from the previous year, with 3.7 million offences recorded in the year ending September 2014.

But the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), a separate measure reflecting experience of crime, revealed an 11 per cent fall in crime to 7 million incidents against households and adults from 7.9 million in the previous year. This is the lowest estimate since the CSEW began in 1981.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: 'It's encouraging to see that crime is at its lowest level since records began in 1981. The police are doing a great job.'