Just one in 26 car theft cases closed across England and Wales last year resulted in someone being charged. In 2021, 100,477 offences involving theft of a motor vehicle were closed by police forces across the two nations, the latest Home Office figures show.
But only 3,914 (3.9%) ended with a suspect being charged or summonsed to court. Greater Manchester Police was unable to provide comparable figures for previous years. Excluding that force, the charge rate was still 3.9% last year, down from 5.0% in 2020, 4.7% in 2019 and 8.6% in 2016.
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