Serious violent crime in Kent won't be included in the latest crime figures.

That is because the Home Office is questioning the accuracy of the force's statistics on offences such as rape and murder, after advice from experts.

The data is being picked over because of revelations before Christmas that some police forces weren't recording crimes properly.

Kent is one of 18 forces included in Home Office concerns regarding the recording of offences for the period between July to September 2008.

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Separate crime figures were released on Thursday by The British Crime Survey. To see how killings are on the rise in Kent click here >>>

Ministers have asked the police inspectorate to examine how all 43 forces in England and Wales collect their data.

That means we won't get an idea of how levels of rape, murder and serious assaults have changed until the summer.

A Kent police spokesman said: "In response to reports in the media this morning, concerning the suspension of the release of crime figures which were due out today, Kent Police can confirm they are one of 18 forces nationally where there has been a problem in the way that violent crime figures are recorded.

"In Kent's case, we can confirm that our figures have been suspended due to over-recording of violent crime."

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• The 18 police forces found to have under-reported the amount of serious violent crime are:

Metropolitan

Thames Valley

North Yorkshire

North Wales

Essex

Hertfordshire

Humberside

Kent

Lancashire

Bedfordshire,

Cambridgeshire

Cleveland

Cumbria

Derbyshire

Norfolk

Nottinghamshire

Staffordshire

Suffolk