Overall crime is down but the number of rapes and sexual offences reported in Kingston has shot up in the past year - according to Met Police figures released on Monday.

The number of people who reported being raped in the Royal borough has increased by almost a third - to 44 cases in the 12 months to July, compared with 33 in the previous year.

The number of sexual offences for the period from April to July also rose from 41 last year to 50.

The most dramatic increase came in Grove ward, in Kingston town centre, which saw a leap from no sexual offences in July 2005 to 0.9 cases per 1,000 people last month - by far the highest rate in Kingston and above the Metropolitan Police average of 0.1 cases per 1,000 people.

Home Office research shows violence often occurs in and around licensed premises and alcohol is a factor in many sexual incidents.

But Sue Hill, Kingston police's superintendent of operations, who has specialised in investigating rape and sexual assaults, said it was people's confidence in police which was fuelling the apparent increase, with more people comfortable coming to police for help.

She said: "When victims have confidence in the police they report to them. Our analysis of trends have not shown anything significant."

She added Kingston police were doing a good job tracking down and convicting sex offenders.

"We are achieving well here, with detection of 36.4 per cent against targets of 30 per cent. This can be difficult with rape because people may drop charges as there may be domestic issues.

"I have only been here since the beginning of April and we are one of the highest achieving boroughs for sanctioned detections."

Overall, crime in the borough has fallen 13 per cent. The town centre saw a fall in criminal damage, violence against the person and robbery.

Det Supt Hill has seen crime rates drop since she joined in April and was keen to highlight positives from the Met's latest figures, including a 13 per cent decrease in all crime for the start of this financial year compared to the same period in 2005.

Successes include a fall in gun-enabled crime from 17 to 11, vehicle crime from 485 to 415 and total burglary from 357 to 335.

Borough Commander Angela List said: "Although we have seen a slight increase in robberies and burglaries, Kingston's specialist investigation team has achieved some of the highest detection rates in London.