SUSSEX Police have apologised after a blunder meant they released figures which were so inaccurate it appeared to almost treble knife crime in the county.

A computer error was blamed on the inflated figures which had knife crime incidents at 660 for the year to March 2014 and 873 to March 2015.

The actual figures were 272 and 334 respectively.

Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney said: "While overall recorded crime has not changed, the Argus report has prompted us to review our control reporting in respect of knife crime.

“Our review has determined that, due to an IT problem, our reporting mechanisms have incorrectly pulled in additional categories of weapons, such as teeth, bottles or bodily force, which have inflated overall figures.

“These will be corrected with the Home Office.

"We have examined our data reporting and re-run reports and instead of 660 knife crime incidents in the year to March 2014 and 873 to March 2015, the actual figures are 272 and 334 respectively.

“While the picture is more positive following the resolution of this problem, it is regrettable that incorrect figures have resulted in readers of the Argus being misinformed and we apologise for this.

“The Force has made a hugely complex transition from one crime recording system to another over the last two years which has involved the remapping of detail sitting behind crimes and this is a glitch that has been missed in testing, undertaken before reports are released.

“We are looking at all categories to minimise any risk of this happening again.

“Whilst it does not effect the level of crime recorded, we take this very seriously.

“I would like to reassure the public that providing them with a high level of service, and being open and honest about how we police remains our priority."