Violent Offences Rise by 12% But Overall Crime Rate Falls

Violent crime, excluding robberies and sex offences, (1) _______________ (to rise) by 12% in the past year according to new crime figures (2) _______________ (to publish) tomorrow. But while most violent crime continues to rise the official figures will also show that the overall crime rate in England and Wales (3) ______________ (to fall) and for the first time people’s fear also (4) _______________ (to start) to drop.

The government’s drive against anti-social behaviour (5) _______________ (to launch) this week is as much about (6) _______________ (to try) (7) _______________ (to reduce) the public’s fear of crime as it is about (8) _______________ (to tackle) the low-level offences that (9) _______________ (to involve).

Ministers (10) _______________ (to expect) (11) _____________ (to step up) efforts to curb gun crime and highlight the new five-year mandatory sentence for (12) _______________ (to carry) an illegal firearm.

Tomorrow’s figures (13) _______________ (to mark) the third year that the BCS and the police recorded crime figures (14) _______________ (to show) crime (15) _______________ (to fall) in England and Wales.

The figures (16) _______________ (to publish) soon by the Home Office are the quarterly recorded crime figures for April-June this year, and the results of the British Crime Survey, (17) _______________ (to base) on interviews with 40,000 people.

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

C.

Silcott to Be Released after Serving 18 Years in Prison

Winston Silcott, who (1) _______________ (to convict) and subsequently (2) _______________ (to clear) of murdering PC Keith Blakelock in 1985 Broadwater Farm riot, is (3) _______________ (to release) from prison next week after ministers (4) _______________ (to back) the Parole Board’s verdict the he (5) _______________ (to pose) no risk to the public.

Silcott, 43, (6) _______________ (to serve) a life sentence for the unrelated murder of amateur boxer Anthony Smith a year earlier.

PC Blakelock was set upon by a mob and hacked to death during the riot in Tottenham, north of London on October 6, 1985. At the time Silcott was on bail (7) _______________ (to await) trial for the murder of Mr Smith. In March 1987, 13 months after (8) _______________ (to convict) of murdering Smith he (9) _______________ (to convict) of murdering PC Blakelock.

Despite more than 1,000 police photos of the riots, not one showed Silcott to be present. He always (10) _______________ (to maintain) his innocence of the murder of the PC and (11) _______________ (to claim) that police saw him as a target because of his position as founder of Broadwater Farm Youth Association which (12) _______________ (to speak up) for young black people.

Six years after (13) _______________ (to sentence) to 30 years in prison his conviction (14) _______________ (to overturn) on appeal because of tainted police evidence. He since (15) _______________ (to pay) £50,000 by the Metropolitan police for wrongful arrest and punishment.

In a statement, Silcott said: “I (16) _______________ (to look) forward to returning to my family and overturning my conviction.”

He is expected to return to his former home area in Tottenham, where he (17) _______________ (to believe) (18) _______________ (to sign) up for a course in sound engineering and computers at a local college.

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)