21.   ...serious offences, such as assault on a police officer.

22.   Plotting against rulers is regarded as a serious offence and is seriously punished.

23.   Hit and run -- a serious offence, but when had it merited the attention of a Detective Chief Superintendent?

24.   That phrase is read narrowly to convict the accused of handling rather than theft, handling being a more serious offence than theft.

25.   Handling is a serious offence because handling encourages thieves.

26.   His wife Anne says that he DID drink in Saudi, but would never have committed the more serious offence of running a still and selling its produce.

27.   In June, at Northampton Crown Court, Marron admitted false imprisonment, indecent assault and another serious sexual offence.

28.   Mr Harrison said the courts had to make sure the punishment fitted the crime for such serious offences.

29.   Anthony Gannon, of Harewood Road, Harrogate, denies indecent assault and a serious sexual offence on another man.

30.   While Strathclyde records the highest numbers of the most serious offences, the survey highlights that it is not alone in suffering steep rises in violent crime.