Photo: Christopher Hilton · CC BY-SA 2.0On violent crime, Witham has a higher rate per resident than 81% of UK towns
For its size, it sits below 37% of the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people on crime per resident. Witham grades C− for safety on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #56 of 81 in Essex. Recorded violence held steady in a year. Per 1,000 residents a year, 37.9 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage were recorded.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Witham
About the middle for a town its size
Of 237 UK towns of 19,000 to 37,000 people, Witham has the 140th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Epsom, Rushden and Kirkby-in-Ashfield, higher than Sedgley, Yate and Warwick. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The C− for Witham, and how it is built
A firm grade. Built on 4,207 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Witham against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Witham runs highest on possession of weapons (1.1 per 1,000 against 0.7), drugs (2.8 per 1,000 against 1.9) and other crime (2.5 per 1,000 against 1.8). Anti-social behaviour and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 1,007 | 36.8 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 277 | 10.1 | 12.4 |
| Public order | not graded | 163 | 5.9 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 150 | 5.5 | 4.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 145 | 5.3 | 6.2 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 103 | 3.8 | 6.1 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 84 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 76 | 2.8 | 1.9 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 71 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 69 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 29 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 17 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 10 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 5 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
“Violent” is police.uk’s violence and sexual offences (which includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury), robbery and possession of weapons. Anti-social behaviour isn’t a crime category; shoplifting and other theft happen mostly in shops and town centres rather than to residents, so neither counts in the grade.
September 2025 to August 2026, per 1,000 residents. The tick on each bar is the typical (median) town among UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
How Witham’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 10% in the highest-crime 20%. The crime domain scores the risk of violence, burglary, theft and criminal damage where people live, so it can read differently from the town-wide rate, which counts crimes where they happened.
Witham’s residents by the crime decile of their neighbourhood (LSOA, about 1,500 people) in the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (crime domain), where 1 is the highest-crime 10% of England’s neighbourhoods and 10 the lowest.
Crime in Witham per 1,000 residents
A crime isn’t a victim: one person can report several, and crimes in a town centre often involve visitors rather than residents.
And about 11 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 10 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police in Witham identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 76% of Witham’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 15% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (63% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 7% of violent and 2% of household crimes reached court.
The latest outcome police.uk shows for each crime recorded in the first of the three years (September 2023 to August 2024), so most cases have closed. 1,486 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Witham South, Witham North and Witham West; highest in Witham Central
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witham South | 6,386 | 19.3 | 7.8 | |
| Witham North | 7,481 | 30.6 | 10.1 | |
| Witham West | 6,799 | 34.1 | 10.6 | |
| Witham Central | 6,729 | 63.2 | 24.4 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 467 | 60% shoplifting & theft |
| Car parks | 345 | 33% violent |
| Petrol stations | 187 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Shopping areas | 117 | 50% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 51 | 53% violent |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live, so Witham Central records 2.2× the violent crime per resident of the rest of Witham. police.uk places each crime at an anonymous map point; some are named for the kind of place (a supermarket, a car park), and each row adds up every place of that kind in Witham. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Witham’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
Witham against towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heswall Merseyside | 29,082 | 14.3 | 5.5 | 3.8 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Billericay Essex | 34,068 | 16.9 | 9.1 | 8.8 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Wickford Essex | 27,533 | 19.8 | 13 | 8.1 | B− |
| 43 | Rayleigh Essex | 32,383 | 23.4 | 9.8 | 9.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Stanford-le-Hope Essex | 29,527 | 23.7 | 13.3 | 11.9 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 137 | Sedgley West Midlands | 31,976 | 32 | 19 | 7.8 | C− |
| 138 | Yate Gloucestershire | 28,352 | 38.4 | 12.7 | 13.2 | C− |
| 139 | Warwick Warwickshire | 36,673 | 34.1 | 17.2 | 18.6 | C− |
| 140 | Witham Essex | 27,395 | 37.9 | 13.6 | 13.2 | C− |
| 141 | Kempston Bedfordshire | 22,779 | 35.5 | 16 | 18.6 | C− |
| 142 | Newton Abbot Devon | 29,650 | 40.4 | 11.2 | 14.7 | C− |
| 143 | Bingley West Yorkshire | 21,334 | 37 | 14.6 | 10.1 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 237 | Great Yarmouth Norfolk | 28,979 | 105 | 32.9 | 33.7 | D− |
Safety letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Graded crime per 1,000 residents a year, September 2023 to August 2026, counting from the least: towns ranked near Witham, and others in Essex.
How crime in Witham has moved
“Towns its size” pools all UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling six-month rate, per 1,000 residents a year (longer windows for smaller places, where a few crimes swing a month). In the 12 months to August 2026 against the 12 before: violent +4% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -16% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -30% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +29% (towns its size -4%).
Two people died in collisions on Witham’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 132 collisions with injuries inside Witham in five years, in which two people died (2 were cyclists). 46 people were killed or seriously injured: 15 on foot and 5 on a bicycle.
That is about what is typical for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people: at their median rate (0.9 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Witham’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Witham’s own rate (1.5) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Witham had 33.6 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, above the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8). 33% of them were on foot, against 30% across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Casualties are counted where the collision happened, not where people lived: a main road through town adds through-traffic, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Seriously injured uses the Department for Transport’s adjusted figures, which even out the police forces’ different ways of recording injuries. There’s no national rate here: more than half of road deaths in England and Wales (58%) happen outside every town’s built-up area. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), 2021–2025.
Collisions police recorded inside Witham’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Witham
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witham | 27,395 | 37.9 | 13.6 | C− |
| Wickham Bishops | 1,923 | 10.6 | 6.8 | A |
| Hatfield Peverel | 3,622 | 32.8 | 12.5 | C |
| Great Totham | 2,773 | 8.9 | 2.6 | A+ |
| Silver End | 3,913 | 32.2 | 11.2 | C |
| Kelvedon and Feering | 4,771 | 24.6 | 10.8 | C+ |
| Tye Green | 1,415 | 25.7 | 8 | B− |
| Black Notley | 1,932 | 19.7 | 6.6 | B+ |
Witham records more graded crime per resident than every neighbour in the table. Wickham Bishops, 2.3 miles away, records 10.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Witham’s 37.9.
Per 1,000 residents a year, the same three years. Tap a town for its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Where crimes happen, not where victims live. police.uk places each crime at a point near where it happened. Town centres with shops, stations, a hospital and nightlife record more crime per resident, and residents of nearby villages who come in to shop or go out are part of that count.
- Bigger towns record more per resident. Across UK towns, recorded crime per resident rises steeply with size, more than in the U.S., so a city’s grade sits low against the whole UK. The “towns its size” figures show where Witham sits among towns like it; they are context and don’t change the grade.
- Points are approximate. police.uk moves each point to the nearest of a set of anonymous map points, so crimes near the edge of the built-up area can fall either side of it.
Questions about safety in Witham
Is Witham safe?
Police recorded 37.9 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Witham’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 20% of UK towns. Among 237 UK towns of 19,000 to 37,000 people, Witham is 140th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Witham?
By council ward, Witham South, Witham North and Witham West record the least violent and household crime per resident: 19.3, 30.6 and 34.1 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 63.2 in Witham Central.
Is crime going up in Witham?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime held steady, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 16%, shoplifting and theft fell 30% and anti-social behaviour rose 29%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Witham?
Violence & sexual offences: 1,007 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came public order (163) and other theft (150), with 277 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Witham compare with Braintree?
Braintree records 39.8 violent and sexual offences and 12.4 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Witham’s 37.9 and 13.6, over the same three years.
Sources: data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain by LSOA (residents from ONS Census 2021) · Department for Transport road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions 2021–2025, points inside the built-up-area boundary · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.