THERE is growing concern, from Westminster, and now from the man on the street, about the police use of cautions for serious offences.

The Government has announced a review of caution use to ensure they are not being abused to simply clear crimes ‘off the books’ and allow those guilty of serious offences to avoid going to court.

Today we can reveal that over a five year period, 15,466 cautions were issued in Oxfordshire alone.

Many are for the low-level offences you would expect. Some will be for cases where the victim wouldn’t give evidence in court; the facts might not be clear cut enough to convince a jury or there are individual circumstances that mean a caution on an offender’s record is the best result police can achieve.

But there are 52 offences so serious that they can only be dealt with in Crown Court, including rape of children, robbery, grievous bodily harm with intent and arson with the intent to endanger life.

We don’t subscribe to the theory that all cautions are a token slap-on the wrist and mean the criminal has got away with it.

But last night, in the interests of fairness, we asked Thames Valley Police to categorically assure you, the public, that in all 52 indictable-only cases it was right to issue a caution. It refused.

It has broadly defended its use of cautions and said that in serious cases it discussed circumstances with the Crown Prosecution Service. The figures, which are available in full on our website, raise more questions.

We offer Thames Valley Police next week an opportunity to fully explain its record and policy of the past five years so you know justice is being served.