Violent crime spate initially ignored — detestable! (9)

I believe the answer is:

abhorrent

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'detestable' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'violent crime spate initially ignored' is the wordplay.
'violent crime' becomes 'abh' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'spate' becomes 'torrent' (I've seen this before).
'initially ignored' means to remove the first letter.
'torrent' with its initial letter taken off is 'orrent'.
'abh'+'orrent'='ABHORRENT'

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(Other definitions for abhorrent that I've seen before include "Ugly" , "hateful" , "horrid" , "Rob in Tehran - that's disgusting" , "Odious, being earthborn" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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