Sharp rise in reported sex offences

New figures show Stoke-on-Trent has the 22nd highest rate out of more than 300 community safety areas...

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SEXUAL offences reported to police soared in North Staffordshire last year.

Home Office figures show the number of sexual offences that were investigated by Staffordshire Police, including rape and sexual assault, increased by 14% in the year ending March 2025, to 3,851 crimes.

Crime rates - the number of crimes recorded in each area for every 1,000 people who live there - allow for a fairer comparison of areas with different population sizes.

They show that in Staffordshire, sexual offences were most likely to be recorded by police in Stoke-on-Trent, with 1,197 crimes last year.

That's a crime rate of 4.6 offences for every 1,000 residents, or the equivalent of one in 217 people suffering some form of sex crime in the last year alone.

That was the 22nd highest rate of more than 300 community safety partnership areas in England and Wales, which are broadly similar to council areas.

Staffordshire Moorlands (289 crimes, a rate of 3.0 offences per 1,000 people), Stafford (415 crimes, a rate of 3.0), and Newcastle (373 crimes, a rate of 3.0) all had much lower crimes rates for sexual offences.