Drug Offences Increase 50 Per Cent, Robberies up One-Third on Britain’s Railways

TOPSHOT - Armed British Transport Police Specialist Operations officers patrol on the plat
YUI MOK/AFP/Getty
Victoria Friedman

Statistics from British Transport Police (BTP) have revealed that crime has increased, with a shocking 53 per cent rise in drugs offences and the number of robberies increasing by one-third on the year before.

In total, there were 68,313 crimes committed on Britain’s rails in 2018-19, a rise of 12 per cent on the year before, with an increase in violent crime of 14 per cent and the number of sexual offences rising by eight per cent.

Last year there were 13,591 violent crimes, which included murder, attempted murder, and assault. There were six homicides on railway routes that period, including the murder of 51-year-old father Lee Pomeroy who was stabbed to death on a train from Guildford to London on January 4th.

Darren Pencille had stabbed Mr Pomeroy 18 times in front of the victim’s 14-year-old son following an argument over a blocked aisle. Pencille, who had a history of violence, was found guilty of murder and sentenced in July to life imprisonment.

The increase in drug offences may be linked to the rise of County Lines drug dealing, where drug dealers from larger cities like London exploit vulnerable youngsters and force them to deal drugs in outlying counties, using burner mobile phone “lines” to sell drugs.

In January, Breitbart London reported that County Lines drug dealing networks has nearly tripled across the country in one year, fuelling a rise in London crime.

Deputy Chief Constable Adrian Hanstock said: “Of particular concern to us is the growing issue of exploitation through ‘County Lines’ drug trafficking. We’ve set up dedicated teams to oversee this important area of safeguarding, sharing valuable intelligence with our national partners including the National Crime Agency.

“As a result of our close collaboration with other law enforcement partners, large quantities of drugs have been seized and importantly, a number of vulnerable youngsters have been protected from these toxic criminal networks.”

The report of the rise in sexual offences also comes after Reece Francis, 27, was convicted and jailed last month for sexually assaulting a woman as she slept on her train ride home. The victim had been sitting on her own on a train from London Bridge when she fell asleep, only to be woken up when Francis began sexually assaulting her.

This had not been the first time, however, that the 27-year-old had targetted vulnerable women on trains, having done the same to a sleeping woman in October 2017 on a train from Dartford, and assaulted another woman on a train from Cannon Street the following month as she slept.

The BBC reported in 2017 that sexual offences on trains and London’s tubes had doubled in just five years.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.