Just one in three have no fears about crime

ONLY a third of Britons are confident they will not become a victim of crime in the next year, figures suggest.

Burglary was named as the crime people were most worried about, followed by violence and theft.

Women were more concerned than men, with just 30 per cent confident they would not be affected.

The rate of crime in the UK has risen, with Home Office data showing there were 5.6million offences reported in the last year.

But while crime has been increasing, the number of people brought to justice has been in steady decline.

Violent crime in particular has sharply increased in England and Wales, having risen every year since 2013, when police recorded 600,000 offences, to almost 1.5million in the year to June 2018 – a 144 per cent rise. Research from polling company D-CYFOR said 14 per cent of the British public believed they were likely to become a victim of crime, with a further 52 per cent uncertain whether they would be affected. Just 33 per cent believed they would be unaffected.

The polling also revealed that eight in 10 wanted more police on the streets, and of these more than two in five said they wanted to see an increase of at least 5,000 front-line officers.