POLICE in Thames Valley solved only a quarter of crimes in the past year - putting local police among the ten worst forces in England and Wales.

Figures released by the Home Office have disclosed the clear-up rates for all 44 police forces in the country.

Thames Valley Police - which covers Oxfordshire - ranks joint-sixth worst after solving just 25 per cent of crimes.

The worst performing force was the Metropolitan Police in London on 21 per cent, while the best is North Wales at 48 per cent.

The average for clean-up rates in England and Wales, according to the figures, stands at 27 per cent.

Thames Valley Deputy Chief Constable Alex Marshall said: "Our sanction detection rate is in line with other forces in the South East.

"We have been concentrating on preventing crime and detecting more serious offences.

"Performance in Oxfordshire compares very favourably with similar police areas and the sanction detection rate currently stands at 28.5 per cent with crime in the county down nine per cent, compared with the same period last year."

The figures were released this week after Home Office Minister Tony McNulty ordered officials to work out the crime detection rates.

In November, Peter Neyroud, who stood down as Chief Constable for Thames Valley two years ago, made a speech claiming his officers had been concentrating on solving lesser crimes to meet detection targets and improve performance statistics.

But his successor, Chief Constable Sara Thornton, said her officers did not simply follow Government targets.

She said detection rates in Oxfordshire were low because police were chasing serious crimes rather than focusing on easier targets to boost statistics.

The four priority crimes for all police officers in Oxfordshire to concentrate on detecting are burglary of a dwelling, robbery, vehicle crime and violence with injury.