Shocking figures have shown that more than 16,000 crimes in Macclesfield over the past five years have gone unsolved, the Express can reveal.
According to figures released by Cheshire Police following a Freedom of Information request, 16,190 crimes reported in Macclesfield over the last five years remain undetected, meaning no person has even been charged or summonsed to court for the offence.
Included in the thousands of crimes are some of an extreme nature, including five blackmails, a child abduction, two kidnappings, 65 rapes, 93 sexual assaults, a reported case of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder, 14 arsons that put life at risk and seven threats to kill.
There is also a number of ‘common’ offences for which nobody has ever been caught, including 2,542 assaults, 2,428 burglaries and 3,323 criminal damage offences.
But police say that there are a multitude of reasons why a crime may not be detected, and that the figures are no higher than in any other part of the country.
Detective Chief Inspector Chris Ankers, of Cheshire Police, said: “In the most serious cases Cheshire Police would have given the crimes a lot of investigative scrutiny.
“In relation to the more common offences, there are lots of reasons why crimes might remain undetected.
“It may be that a victim does not know the offender, there is no CCTV available, it may be that the victim does not want to press charges – we would still have to record that as a crime.
“I think if you look at national figures we are in no way shape or form worse off than other locations or forces.”
Coun Ken Edwards, who represents the Macclesfield Central ward, said: “The figures seem horrendous, it’s astounding.
“In relation to the more serious offences I would want the police to provide reasons why there are so many unsolved crimes. I would like to know exactly why no one has been charged.
“It’s difficult to say why so many are unsolved but from my perspective it may be resources.
“What we need to do now is address what is going wrong both in terms of the level of crime perpetrated and the number of crimes that remain undetected. As a community we should also play our part in helping catch criminals.”
The number of crimes has fallen from 3,627 in 2010 to 2,829 in 2013.
Macclesfield MP David Rutley said: “It is good to see crime falling in Macclesfield and across the country.
“It is also important to bear down on undetected crime and ensure that it continues to fall in Macclesfield as it has since 2010.”
