Southend's most dangerous neighbourhoods have been revealed in new crime statistics with one area having almost three times more than the city’s average.

Statistics from crimerate.co.uk found that 20,693 crimes were reported in the city in 2022, with an overall crime rate of 112 crimes per 1,000 people.

According to the website, this is 51 per cent higher than the regional crime rate.

Southend Central is the most dangerous neighbourhood in Southend, followed by Victoria in second place, and Kursaal as the third most dangerous area.

Southend Central was found to have a crime rate of 332 crimes per 1,000 people, almost three times higher than the city's average, with 3,885 offences in 2022.

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Victoria was a close second with 3,359 offences reported last year, and a crime rate of 261. Kursaal saw 2,615 crimes with a crime rate of 212.

The most common crimes in Southend were violence and sexual offences, with 10,317 offences during 2022, giving a crime rate of 56. This is 0.01 per cent lower than 2021's figure of 10,318 offences.

The city's least common crime was theft from the person, with 182 offences recorded in 2022.

However, this is an increase of 8 per cent from 2021's figure of 169 crimes.

Southend's safest neighbourhoods are, in order, Eastwood Park, Thorpe Bay, and West Leigh. 

The figures for 2022 were the second highest since 2016, with the highest figures coming pre-pandemic in 2019.

However, a breakdown of crime trends found reports of anti-social behaviour, bicycle theft, burglary, criminal damage and arson, shoplifting, other theft and vehicle crime have all dropped since 2019.