A surge in 'county lines' drug dealing has been blamed for a shift in violence hotspots from major cities to previously safer neighbourhoods
CRIME is soaring across the UK and a surge in 'county lines' drug dealing and violence has seen once peaceful suburbs now among the most dangerous places to live in the country.
Sun Online analysis of the latest Home Office data reveals where you are most at risk of become a victim of crime in England and Wales.
West Yorkshire remains the police force area where residents are most at risk across five victim-based crime categories - violent crime, robbery, sex offences, damage to property and theft of property.
Surprisingly - per head - London is just 10th in the blacklist dominated by neighbourhoods in the north of England.
But the spread of London crime gangs into the suburbs as criminal networks move into untapped territories is being blamed for a surge in violence elsewhere.
The findings are proportional to the amount of people living in each force's area.
Kent is now the most dangerous area for violent crime as youth crime nearly doubled last year and knife crime soared by more than 40 per cent.
The region has seen an increase in both 'county lines' and homegrown gangs in recent years with kids as young as 10 known to be involved in gang activity.
One mum whose 17-year-old was stabbed to death in Gillingham, Kent, has told how gang warfare in the area is 'destroying lives'.
West Yorkshire came top with 101.7 victim-based crimes per 1,000 people living there in the year up to June 2018 - a nine per cent rise on last year.
Greater Manchester, Cleveland, South Yorkshire and Northumbria - all in the north of England - made up the rest of the top five.
Dyfed-Powys in Wales was the safest place to live with 43.1 offences per 1,000 people - meaning West Yorkshire residents are more than twice as likely to be a victim of crime.
Other rural areas such as North Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire were also among the least crime-hit areas.
Meanwhile, people living in London are more than twice as likely to be robbed than almost anywhere else in the country.
The capital has been hit by a surge of violent moped thefts in the last year with 19,000 attacks compared to just over 1,000 in 2014.
Comedian Michael McIntyre fell victim in June this year when he was targeted by hammer-wielding moped muggers who stole his £15,000 watch in North West London.
Robbery offences in mid Wales were more than 35 times lower than the English capital.
Cleveland, in the north east of England, is the top blackspot for both theft and criminal damage and arson offences.
We previously reported how vigilantes have been forced to patrol the streets of towns such as Hartlepool after the local police force was slashed to just 10 officers to cover 90,000 people.
North Wales remains the sex offence hotspot of England and Wales, followed by Kent and West Yorkshire.
Recorded crime across England and Wales increased by 10 per cent in July 2017 to June 2018 compared to the previous year.
Police Scotland figures are published separately by the Scottish government and aren't directly comparable with the Home Office statistics.
Kent has seen a huge rise in violence as increase in London-based and homegrown gangs bring mayhem to the streets of one of the wealthiest counties in the UK.
A report by Kent and Medway Gangs Strategy found the average age of a new gang member in the county is just 15.
Children are young as 10 are known to be involved in gang activity.
Towns such as Dover, Margate, Gillingham and Chatham have been identified as particular gang hotspots where local children are being recruited by London gangsters.
Crucially, all three are served by train lines as little as 33 minutes from London.
NIKKI Yule should have been planning her son's 18th birthday party as she struggled to find the strength to prepare for his funeral.
Kyle Yule, 17, begged for five gang members to spare him as they chased him with machetes in a senseless gang attack in Gillingham, Kent.
The attack on the evening of October 6 last year was triggered by a stolen bike and followed several violent clashes between two gangs of teenage boys known as C4 and G10.
The bicycle theft was said to be the "final insult" for Victor Maibvisira, 19, who "tooled up" and "gathered his troops" on the night Kyle died.
Nikki described losing her son as 'a living nightmare' and warned other youngsters about lives 'needlessly' being lost.
She said: "No one should feel the need to carry knives. People’s lives can be lost so quickly and needlessly, just look at what happened to my Kyle.
"Quite simply knife crime destroys lives."
"All I can hope is that his death will help send out a very strong message to all young people, that knife crime cannot and will not be tolerated in any way, shape or form."
In a statement read as her son's killers were sentenced, she described Kyle as her 'best friend'.
She said: "Kyle was a beautiful, kind hearted, funny boy. He was extremely popular, brightening up people’s day, often the centre of attention and making everyone laugh.
"He was a fantastic big brother, grandson and son. He was very much loved and is so dearly missed."
Maibvisira, 19, Shezakia Daley, 18,Tyler Ralph and Ephrain Akinwunmi-Streets, both 17, and 16-year-old Jordan Dania were all convicted of Kyle's murder.
They were jailed for life with minimum terms totalling 88 years at Maidstone Crown Court
Francis Osei-Appiah, a former gang member of crime prevention charity Reform Restore Respect, said trains are used to ferry gang members to and from the capital and stations have become well-known 'meeting points' for young criminals.
He said: "It's a huge problem. With drug dealing comes violence - we've seen this take a foothold in Kent over the last decade and it's getting bigger and bigger.
"The gangs are moving out from London where street-by-street the competition is fierce, to places where they think they can own the town.
"Children as young as 10 or 11 are being recruited. The gangs pick on the vulnerable ones and groom them with cash, expensive clothes, sometimes somewhere to live.
"The gangs travel into Kent, and will drop the drugs off to our Kent children to sell for them.
“Places like Sevenoaks station are being used for the switch – it’s scary.
"The problem is it's hard to reclaim kids once they're dependent on that lifestyle for materialistic purposes, the only was to be pro-active in schools and teach them that it's a dead-end way of life."
Authorities say the problem has been heightened by an increased in young gang members and homeless families from London being moved to Kent via youth detention and temporary housing.
Francis agrees moving problem Londoners out into the Home Counties means they can maintain criminal connections and exploit them in a new setting.
He said: "You've got parts of Kent where because of the rail connections, you can be there from London Bridge in half an hour, you might as well still be in south London.
“Areas like Thanet have been used to relocate a lot of Londoners, and we’ve seen more children and their families being moved from there and dumped in Kent.
“It’s so close, they can easily travel back and forth – so once they're in Kent they're going to maintain all those old connections.
“Once they get into Kent, they are still going to retain their links to London.”
A FORMER teen gang member who became swept up in violence after being recruited by London-based drug pushers has described the moment he realised he could end up dead.
The 18-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said he was forced into selling drugs after running up a £400 'debt' when he became homeless and moved into a flat rented by a gang member.
He was later ordered to carry out attacks on members of rival local gangs but managed to escape the group's clutches after seeing a fellow youth stabbed outside a train station in one feud.
He said: "I felt like I had no other option. They said I owed them money and I had to do as they say or I'd get beaten up myself - I saw it happen to others.
"I carried drugs for them. I knew it was a bad idea and could have bad consequences but it was a short-term fix so I put it to the back of my mind.
"When I saw the guy get stabbed, that was a wake-up call that it could be me next.
"I managed to get the support I needed to find somewhere safe to live and I have a job now so I don't have to rely on that stuff.
"If you can get yourself on your own two feet, you're no use to them anymore. They just go after people when they're at their lowest."
Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster of West Yorkshire Police, told Sun Online: "In West Yorkshire we promote a culture of ethical crime recording and have made significant improvements to enhance the integrity of our crime statistics which has influenced an increase in recorded crime.
“We as a force have experienced real rises in some areas of crime affecting our communities such as violence, burglary and robbery, similar to other forces nationally. Conversely we have seen a reduction in other areas of crime including vehicle crime and theft from the person. “
“We have experienced some of the worst cuts to our budgets when compared to other forces nationally at a time when criminality is not only increasing, but evolving in terms of seriousness and complexity and at a time when we have seen unprecedented increases in calls for service to our 999 and 101 system."
Deputy Chief Constable Tony Blaker of Kent Police said a high number of minor offences such as assaults were the reason his force is now the most violent in England and Wales.
He said: “While these increases are concerning, a large amount are due to improvements in our crime recording and the recording of multiple crimes linked to a single incident.
“For example, previously if four people were found fighting outside a pub and it was not clear who was in the right or wrong, one report of affray would have been recorded whereas now four counter allegations of assault and one of affray could be recorded.
"This gives us a more accurate picture of what crime looks like across the county and allows us to give appropriate support to the victims involved.
“However, increases in violent crime have been largely driven by offences where no injury is caused, which include common assault reports."
Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt of Metropolitan Police believes a surge in murders and serious violent offences as well as moped thefts in London has been brought under control.
He said: "Like the rest of the country, the Met is facing challenging times in tackling an increase in crime. Despite these challenges, we are determined to bring offenders to justice, keep the streets safe and support victims of crime.
"This year has seen a concerning increase in the numbers of people losing their lives to violence and we are committed to using every tactic at our disposal to tackle this issue, which remains our top priority. In recent months the rate of increase has stabilised, but we are not complacent and continue to intensify our efforts in this area.
"The VCTF (Violent Crime Task Force) was formed earlier this year and along with regular operational activity this has resulted in hundreds of weapons being taken off the streets of London and many offenders put behind bars.
"We have also made significant inroads into tackling moped crime and as a result of intensive proactive policing and engagement, there have been reductions in moped crime across the capital."
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