The number of robberies involving firearms jumped 10% last year, including a 9% rise in street robberies at gunpoint, official figures have revealed.

Home Office statistics also showed a 46% leap in residential robberies involving a firearm in 2005/06.

Criminals used guns in a record 645 cases of residential robbery in England and Wales - up 204 on the previous year and four times the level recorded in 2000/01.

The number of street robberies at gunpoint increased from 1,311 in 2004/05 to 1,439 last year.

The overall number of gun robberies - including those which took place outdoors or targeted shops, garages, post offices, banks and homes - was 4,120 compared with 3,674 in the previous 12 months.

Handguns were the most commonly used firearm in robberies, reported in 2,888 cases.

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