There was a record number of sexual offences recorded by Wiltshire Police last year, new figures show.

Charity Victim Support said it is "seriously concerned" sexual offences have reached a national record high for the second year in a row and called on the government to prioritise tackling the violence.

Office for National Statistics figures show 1,911 sexual offences were recorded by Wiltshire Police in the year to December 2022 – a record high since equivalent records began in the year to September 2007.

It was up from 1,688 sexual offences recorded the 12 months prior and up from 1,473 offences in the year to March 2020, before the pandemic.

Across England and Wales, there were 189,700 sexual offences recorded last year – a 19% increase from the year prior to Covid-19 restrictions and the highest level recorded.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: "We are seriously concerned that sexual offences have reached a record high for the second year in a row."

"Tackling this insidious violence needs to be the government’s top priority, alongside ensuring all victims are treated with respect and given support to recover."

The figures also show over 697,500 stalking and harassment offences were recorded across forces last year. This was relatively in line with the year before, but a 44% increase compared to the pre-pandemic year ending March 2020.

In Wiltshire, stalking and harassment offences rose from 3,128 pre-coronavirus to 4,173 last year.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the figures "show the grim truth that crime is going up and prosecutions and community penalties are going down".

She claimed under a Conservative government "more criminals are getting away with it and more victims are being let down".

The ONS said the latest statistics may reflect a number of factors, including the "impact of high-profile incidents, media coverage and campaigns on people’s willingness to report incidents to the police, as well as a potential increase in the number of victims".

It added: "While violence and sexual offences recorded by the police have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, theft offences and robbery remain at a lower level despite increases over the last nine months."

The total number of police-recorded crime in England and Wales in 2022 exceeded pre-coronavirus pandemic levels with 6.6 million crimes recorded. It was 11 per cent higher than the year ending March 2020.

Wiltshire Police recorded 43,816 crimes in 2022 – up slightly from 43,642 before the pandemic.

Detective Superintendent Sarah Robbins said while figures locally and nationally may not paint a reassuring picture, Wiltshire Police continues to adopt a proactive approach to addressing this issue of concern.

“For the last two years we have been working closely with the Wessex Crown Prosecution Service and our colleagues in Dorset and Hampshire to improve our response and approach to sexual offence investigations, which has seen increased numbers of perpetrators being charged and convicted," she said.

“We never forget that behind these statistics are real victims of crime and our new Chief Constable Catherine Roper has set Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) as one of her top priorities for the force.

"It goes without saying that we take reports of rape and sexual assault incredibly seriously and we want our communities to have complete confidence in reporting these types of offences to us.

“This is not something which can be drastically improved overnight, but we want this to be a sustained, long-term action plan that makes a real difference for victims and brings offenders to justice.

“As always, we would urge victims of rape and sexual assault to report offences to the police, no matter how long ago they occurred, so they can be fully investigated.

“You can do this by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency. Victims can also seek support and counselling from the Swindon and Wiltshire Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) - they can be contacted on the helpline 01793 781916.”