A North East area has been named the most dangerous place to live across England and Wales - through new data released by the Office for National Statistics.
Cleveland - made up of Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough recorded the worst crime figures across the country according to the study with 139.6 crimes per 1,000 people - excluding fraud.
The ONS collated the data by tracking the number of crimes recorded by police in the constituency, as well as the rate per 1,000 people in the area.
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The Mirror reports that to the year ending September 2022, Cleveland's most prevalent crime appears to be cases of 'violence against the person' - with 29,730 cases recorded in total. Making up the rest of the figures were 2,625 sexual offences, 2,123 drug offences and 10,650 cases of criminal damage and arson.
A population of 569,800 was recorded in the 2020 census for Cleveland, which suffered the highest rate of sexual offences.
Here's how the rest of the North East's police forces ranked in terms of crimes reported per 1,000 people -
Cleveland - 139.6 (1st overall)
Northumbria - 95.4 (12th overall)
Durham - 93.3 (14th overall)
When combined, the North East region overall saw an average of 104.3 crimes per 1,000 people to the year ending September 2022.
The top ten most unsafe areas for crime according to the ONS study:
1) Cleveland - 139.6
2) West Yorkshire - 132.9
3) Greater Manchester - 128.5
4) West Midlands - 126.4
5) Merseyside - 120.2
6) South Yorkshire - 111.3
7) Humberside - 103
8) Gwent - 97.9
9) Kent - 96.5
10) North Wales - 96.3
The ten safest areas for crime according to the ONS study:
1) Wiltshire - 58.1
2) North Yorkshire - 58.5
3) Devon and Cornwall - 58.9
4) Surrey - 59.7
5) Hertfordshire - 63.3
6) Dorset - 65.8
7) Suffolk - 69.4
8) Warwickshire - 71.3
9) West Mercia - 72.1
10) Sussex - 72.9
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