Nottingham is Britain's burglary capital

Nottingham is Britain's burglary capital

Residents of Nottingham are the most likely to have their homes broken into, according to a report published today.

Endsleigh insurance compared the frequency of theft claims in different towns and cities in the UK against its national average.

It found that people living in Nottingham were more than twice as likely than the average household to make a claim for burglary, where the risk is 109% higher than the UK average.

Hull and Leeds residents were close behind, where people were 88% and 65% more likely to make a claim for household theft respectively.

People in Guildford were the least likely to be burgled, where the report said there were 41% fewer claims made, with Coventry and Edinburgh close behind.

Tim Larden, a spokesman for Endsleigh, said residents in the places ranked as the highest risk would be concerned.

However, he added: "Our data shows that these towns and cities are actually showing above-average improvements in the numbers of claims being made for theft and we anticipate this positive trend to continue."

The most recent British Crime Survey, released in February, indicated that the number of robberies recorded by the police in England and Wales rose by 11% to 92,000 incidents.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, admitted that burglaries caused the most concern among the public but pointed out that the survey showed the risk of being a victim of crime, at 23%, was the lowest since it began.....continued below

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in 1981.

Police and councillors in Nottingham have sought to dispel the city's gun-ridden image, which once led to it being dubbed "assassination city".

Last year, the city council appointed a "reputation manager" in a bid to counter a growing perception that Nottingham had become blighted by gun-toting criminal gangs.

Previous high-profile shootings in the city have included the October 2004 murder of St Ann's teenager Danielle Beccan, and the death in October 2003 of Marion Bates, 64, who was shot as she defended her daughter from an armed robber during a raid on her jewellery store.

At one stage Steve Green, the chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, admitted his force was "struggling to cope" with the increase in violent crime and suggested it might have to "farm out" murder investigations to other forces, although he later retracted his remarks.

Recent crime figures showed a 16% fall in gun crime in Nottinghamshire, making it one of only 13 force areas to record a fall.

There were just 11 gun-related injuries in Nottingham in the latest figures, compared to 43 in the preceding year and 77 in the year before that.

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