SERIOUS crimes including rape and murder jumped in Reading last year as Thames Valley Police reveal a spike in crime for the first time in a decade.

The force has announced 129,611 offences were committed across the valley between April 1 2015 and March 31 this year, 7.2 per cent more than the year before.

It recorded a total of 140 rapes between April 1 2015 and March 31 this year, 31 more than the previous 12 months.

Superintendent Stan Gilmour, Local Policing Area [LPA] commander for Reading, said there are many victims of the serious crime that do not come forward and speak to police, and urged any victims to continue to come forward.

He said: "That figure will go up if we are doing our jobs properly.

"The work we are doing is to try and improve the amount of these offences being reported.

"We need to concentrate a lot of our work on understanding where these offences happen and what we can do to prevent them.

"Some people think that things that are happening to them are normal when they are not.

"We would encourage people to speak to somebody that they trust and hopefully in time that will be one of my officers."

There were two murders recorded in Reading LPA compared to one between 2014 and 2015.

Crimes like possession of weapons and racially or religiously aggravated offences also increased in the town.

However, crimes against society which includes drug trafficking and possession of drugs fell.

There were 498 recorded drug offences in Reading this year compared to 546 revealed in 2014, a drop of 8.8 per cent.

Mr Gilmour added: "Although recorded crime saw a slight increase last year much of this was from the first six months. I am encouraged by the steady decline in reports since August 2015.

“We have prioritised how we police exploitation and violence, including domestic violence, and we can see positive outcomes.

"We have been working hard in different areas, we have put up closure orders and are looking to support people who have been made vulnerable.

“We have established much closer relationships with all our partners and these continue to make Reading a safe place to live, work, and visit.”