Criminals dodged over 1.5 million hours of community service last year

CRIMINALS bunked off more than 1.5million hours of community service in a year, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.

Ministry of Justice stats show offenders swerved 1.42million hours of community payback between April and December 2022.

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London had the worst record, with crooks missing nearly 225,000 hours.

From April 2021 to April 2022 — the last full year of figures — louts dodged 1.66million hours of unpaid work in the community.

That tally was up nearly 15 per cent on the year before.

Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed said: “The Conservatives are missing in action in the fight against crime.”

But Tory justice minister Damian Hinds said: “Community payback was severely impacted by the pandemic and the resulting court backlogs.”

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