More than half of the suspects charged in London over robbery and knife-point muggings in 2010 were black, official figures have revealed

The Met statistics show that 7,956 people were taken to court for robbery during the 12 months to the end of March 2011 of whom 55% were black. Just under a third of suspects were white, while 11% were Asian. Three out of five of the 1,613 suspects charged with knife-point muggings were also black, compared with 27% white and 10% Asian. The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, also show that in some of the worst affected boroughs for muggings and knife-point robberies, the proportion of black people charged in 2010 was significantly higher. In Lambeth and Lewisham, for example, three-quarters of those taken to court for robbery were black, while in Southwark the proportion was 69%, although in Westminster black suspects accounted for only 37% of the 495 people charged. Across the capital, 4,363 of the robbers charged were black, compared with 2,166 white north Europeans, 360 white south Europeans and 860 Asians. The rest were Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, south-east Asian or of unknown ethnicity. Separate figures for people charged for knife-enabled robberies - in which a victim is either shown a blade or told that the offender is carrying one - show that 967 of the 1,613 offenders in 2010 were black. That represents 60%.