Internet trolling and revenge pornography cases have helped drive up violent crime recorded by police by more than a fifth.

New figures also show a rise in the number of offences involving guns and knives registered by forces.

Forces in England and Wales logged 1,075,511 "violence against the person" crimes in the year to September, a rise of 22% compared with the previous 12 months.

Recorded levels in the category are the highest seen in a 12-month period since the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002.

The rise was said to be largely driven by changes in recording processes rather than a genuine rise in violent crime - as well as the inclusion of additional harassment offences that cover revenge pornography and internet trolling cases.

However, the Office for National Statistics also said it is possible there have been "small but genuine" increases in some types of violent crime.

In the category of homicide, police recorded 695 offences, 125 more than in the previous year - a 22% increase.

This includes 96 cases of manslaughter recorded in relation to the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

Excluding those cases, the increase in police recorded homicides is less sharp, at 5%.

There was a 30% jump in crimes in the "violence without injury" sub-category, partly fuelled by a 66% rise in harassment offences.

Statisticians said the rise in harassment is almost entirely the result of the expansion of this category in April 2015 to include two additional offences.

These were "disclosure of private sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress or anxiety" and "sending letters with intent to cause distress or anxiety" - which also covers electronic communications such as emails, text messages and those sent via social media.

It is estimated that these two offences made up a third of the overall rise in violence against the person offences.

Findings from the separate Crime Survey for England and Wales have shown substantial falls in levels of violent crime over the longer term, while estimates have been fairly flat for the last two years.

Police recorded 30,838 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, an 11% increase compared with the previous year. Offences involving firearms also increased, by 7% to 5,478.

In total police recorded 4.7 million offences in the year ending September 2016 - an 8% rise year-on-year.

Jeff Farrar, National Police Chiefs' Council lead for crime and incident recording, said: "Increases in public order, sexual offences, and violence without injury have been major contributing factors in this.

"There appear to be smaller increases in some of the lower volume but higher harm categories of police recorded violence including homicide, up by 22%, much of which is due to the inclusion of the 96 victims from the tragic events at Hillsborough.

"Knife crime has increased by 11% in line with the recent upward trend.

"The service is determined to address this rise and will continue with proactive operations across the county to target habitual carriers of knives and those shops who are willing to sell to those who are under age."