Almost 82 per cent of crimes committed in Barnet in the past five years have yet to be solved, a Times & Independent Series investigation has revealed.

Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request from the Times Series show 81.6 per cent of crimes reported to Barnet Police since 2010 remain ‘undetected’, meaning nobody was charged or prosecuted.

The statistics also show that police officers in Barnet have not managed to close 104,309 cases, ranging from murder to sexual assault and drug trafficking to burglary.

There are 94,141 unsolved cases in Enfield, 98,570 in Haringey and 54,964 in Harrow – making Barnet the borough with the highest number of unsolved crimes in north London.

In Barnet, there have been 16,481 unsolved crimes relating to what the police call ‘violence against the person’ since 2010.

This includes three murders, 941 instances of grievous bodily harm, 4,438 assaults in which the victim was injured and 4,979 common assaults.

A total of 4,331 crimes relating to offensive weapons went unsolved, and no suspects were caught in 5,625 of harassment cases.

The people responsible for 472 rapes and 866 other sexual abuse cases have not been caught.

Times Series:

Since 2010, the Metropolitan Police’s budget has been cut by £600million a year – which translates to a loss of 65 police officers in Barnet.

Chancellor George Osborne announced in his autumn statement that there would be more police cuts of £800m a year in London.

Maureen West, the chairman of Barnet Neighbourhood Watch, is determined to prove that police do a “stellar”job fighting crime.

Mrs West, who has been in the role since 1982, says the problem is down to police cuts, which mean detectives are often stretched thin. She told the Times Series: “In the past two years, the police budget has been cut and it’s happening again.

“It's quite simple, we need more police and this crime can’t be solved without them.

“People want to see police walking up and down the road. Just a uniform reassures people but Barnet coppers are the best in London as far as I’m concerned.

“You couldn’t wish for anyone that works harder than Barnet police. They deserve a pat on the back.

“It’s frustrating because our police really do all they can for the public and far beyond that. They are very special people, they give 110 per cent.”

But that is no consolation to Ruth Halkon, 25, who has not heard a thing from police since her home in Finchley Central was burgled two years ago in the middle of the day.

Barnet has 14,821 unsolved burglaries – the highest number across the whole of London.

Ms Halkon, a former reporter for the Times Series, said: “My bedroom was ransacked – the thieves took some sentimental gold jewellery from me.

“The police came and took some forensic evidence but then they left and never came back. They gave us a crime number.

“I didn’t get the impression they were actively trying to catch the culprits. They said there had been a spate of burglaries.

“I felt violated and the police didn’t recognize that. There wasn’t much victim aftercare.”

Detective Superintendent Steve Wallace, of Barnet Police, said detectives in the borough “never stop” looking for offenders.

He noted that although burglary levels are the highest across the whole of London, the amount of burglaries carried out has dropped by 24 per cent since 2011.

He said: “The burglary total is hugely disproportionate. It’s the crime that affects the most people.

“The reason why detection rates for burglaries look low is because there are rarely any clues for us to progress in those cases.

“Our big emphasis is reducing the number of burglaries. While our detection rate isn’t as good as we’d like it to be, it would be fair to say we’ve put in resources to bring that down.”

He also noticed that motor theft reduction is down by 27 per cent in the past 12 months, which equates to 750 fewer crimes.

He added: “To make the biggest impact, we focus on those criminals causing the greatest harm – that’s how I set up my chess pieces.

“Some of these crimes are solved in our eyes, but for one reason or another we’ve not been able to prosecute them, for instance if the offender died, has mental health difficulties, if the victim withdrew of if there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

“What’s important to us is to ensure we’ve got fewer victims.”