Shropshire’s most dangerous towns and common crimes have been revealed in statistics for last year... but Ludlow locals might be pleased with their results.

The CrimeRate statistics showed that during 2022 there was 74 crimes per 1,000 people in the county. The most common crimes in Shropshire were violence and sexual offences, which happened to around 35 out of every 1,000 residents.

The survey considered towns in the county and the highest crime rate was found in Lawley and Overdale where 179 crimes per 1,000 people took place.

The second ‘most dangerous’ town was Madeley which had a rate of 156 crimes per 1,000 people. Great Dawley came out third in the statistics with 145 crimes per 1,000 people.

Updated figures on the police website for July stated that 172 crimes took place in Lawley and Overdale, of which 50 were violence and sexual offences.

In Madeley there were 189 crimes reported last month, 84 were violence and sexual offences compared to 28 incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Telford came in with a crime rate of 100 per 1,000 people with 7,650 incidents of violence and sexual offences.

The least common crime in Telford was theft from the person, with 78 offences recorded in 2022, an increase of 50% on the previous year.

The overall crime rate in Shrewsbury during 2022 was slightly lower with 89 crimes per 1,000 people recorded.

There were 2,987 violence and sexual offences recorded during the 12-month period, which was a slight increase on the previous year.

Theft from person was once again the least common crime with 57 offences recorded in Shrewsbury during 2022.

Latest crime statistics for Shrewsbury Central show that there were 299 crimes recorded in July, of which 97 were violence and sexual offences.

The CrimeRate statistics show that Bridgnorth ranks as the ‘safest town’ in Shropshire with 57 crimes reported per 1,000 residents in 2022.

Last month 82 crimes were reported in Bridgnorth which was a drop from 111 the previous month.

Ludlow was the second ‘safest town’ in the county with a crime rate of 74 per 1,000 residents and Newport third.