REVEALED: Top 10 streets for crime in preston city centre

Crime Map showing crimes reported in the circled area of Preston.

Home Office data has allowed us to map crime rates in Lancashire and today we look at Preston, where 769 of the incidents happened within a one-mile radius of the city centre including violent and sexual assaults, a raft of shoplifting offences and more than 300 instances of anti-social behaviour.

The area near to Temple Court was found to be the worst area for crime with 22 reports made in the 31-day month.

These included 20 shoplifting offences, one theft and one criminal damage and arson with six resolved by the police.

And the manager of JD Sports on Fishergate, Natalie Mundy, said she wasn’t surprised by the figures in the area and says she’s seen a number of issues in her time working for the fashion store.

She said: “We do have some problems with shoplifting and there are a lot of known thieves who often come in and try and take things.

“We had one a couple of weeks ago, we is known to target JD stores across the north-west.

“We also have people who come in and are quite obviously under the influence of drugs or alcohol. We’ve had to have them removed from the store several times because of the abusive language they’re using, not just to the staff, but to customers as well.

Matt Winstanley (left) and Frank Spear of Bounce.

“We have to borrow bouncers from Boots sometimes but police are good at helping know the regular thieves.

“The store itself uses CCTV and someone who is employed to come into the store to make sure we’re doing the right things to stop any shoplifters.”

With 134 violent and sexual crimes being reported in July and a Victim Support spokesman said anyone who has been a victim of these crimes and needed support or advice should call them on 0300 323 0085 and go to the website - www.victimsupport.org.uk

A a Lancashire Police spokesman said these figures were what should be expected for a city like Preston.

They said: “The levels of crime seem to be broadly consistent across the months and year on year and are the sort of things you would expect in a busy city centre – ie shoplifting, ASB and some violence. We have dedicated teams for the city centre and work very closely with our partners in business and in the night-time economy to make Preston a safe place to work and visit.”