‘Dangerous’ UK town ravaged by gang war exposed

Middlesbrough is now the most dangerous place to live in England and Wales, official crime figures have revealed. Over the past year, people living in the Teesside area were also most at risk of being murdered. Data shows 23,419 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded in Middlesbrough. This is equivalent to 150 offences for every 1,000 people. The figures put the town at the top of the overall crime-rate table in the data analysed, outside central London.

Middlesbrough recorded the highest rate of criminal damage and arson, with 3,069 offences at a rate of 20 per 1,000 people. There were 8,336 violence-against-the-person offences, giving a rate of 53 per 1,000 people and the second-highest rate in the data. Violence with injury accounted for 2,320 offences, or 15 per 1,000 people, again the second-highest rate. There were also 856 sexual offences and 6,200 theft offences, alongside 1,206 vehicle offences and 1,121 drug offences.

For comparison, Home Office-based figures for the year ending March 2026 put Broadland in Norfolk at around 35 crimes per 1,000 residents. That means the Middlesbrough rate was more than four times as high.

The figures do not mean every part of Middlesbrough is equally affected.

But they point to why the town has found itself at the centre of Britain’s latest crime debate.

Recently, Middlesbrough and the surrounding areas were rocked by a wave of violence linked by police to serious and organised crime.

On August 22, seven people, including Cleveland Police officers PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, died when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way along the A66 collided with a police vehicle.

The force has since dealt with suspected firearms offences, vehicles being rammed into properties and arson investigations.

On August 30, two men were arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after a vehicle was rammed into another car in Middlesbrough.

Another investigation followed a house fire in nearby Grangetown on August 26 in which a woman and a seven-year-old child died. Police initially said they could not rule out links to wider organised crime. A 23-year-old man has since been charged with two counts of murder.

Cleveland Police brought in support from neighbouring forces and the National Crime Agency, with the number of arrests connected to the serious and organised crime investigation reaching 24 by August 28.

Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Fox said the force’s “relentless pursuit of suspected organised criminals will not waver”.