Photo: Graham Robson · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Bedlington records more crime than 86% of UK towns
Violent crime was down 18% in a year. At 11.6 per 1,000 residents, shoplifting in Bedlington runs well past the 6.1 of a typical town its size (188 recorded in the 12 months to August 2026). Its Safety Grade is D, on crimes police recorded inside the town’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026: #14 of 20 in Northumberland. Annual rates stand at 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every thousand residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Bedlington
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 18% less violent crime per resident in Bedlington than in the year before; across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage fell 25% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 364 UK towns of 11,000 to 22,000 people, Bedlington has the 280th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Buxton, Staveley and Swanscombe, higher than Cudworth and Shafton, Penrith and Leominster. Towns its size ↓
Neighbourhood ranks
52% of Bedlington’s residents live in a neighbourhood ranked in the highest-crime 20% of England (Indices of Deprivation 2025, crime domain), and 5% in the lowest-crime 30%. Neighbourhood ranks ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
The D for Bedlington, and how it is built
A fairly firm grade. Built on 2,684 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Bedlington against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
52% of Bedlington residents live in one of England’s highest-crime neighbourhoods
5% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 52% 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.
Bedlington’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.
How crime in Bedlington has moved
Northumbria Police published two months short or not at all (Jan 2026 and Feb 2026), so the line breaks there and those months are left out of the rates. “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 -18% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -25% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -5% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +11% (towns its size -4%).
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Bedlington runs highest on other crime (4.1 per 1,000 against 1.8), shoplifting (11.6 per 1,000 against 6.1) and anti-social behaviour (20.4 per 1,000 against 12.4). Burglary and vehicle crime sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 517 | 31.9 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 331 | 20.4 | 12.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 188 | 11.6 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 128 | 7.9 | 5.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 124 | 7.7 | 6.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 66 | 4.1 | 1.8 |
| Other theft | not graded | 52 | 3.2 | 4.4 |
| Drugs | not graded | 40 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 29 | 1.8 | 2.8 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 26 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 12 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Robbery | Violent | 10 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 6 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 6 | 0.4 | 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.
280th of 364: Bedlington among towns its size
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kesgrave Suffolk | 14,947 | 13 | 3.3 | 2.7 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 195 | Berwick-upon-Tweed Northumberland | 13,181 | 32.2 | 12.4 | 12.8 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 277 | Cudworth and Shafton South Yorkshire | 12,472 | 38.4 | 18.8 | 7.7 | D |
| 278 | Penrith Cumbria | 16,705 | 45.9 | 11.3 | 17.8 | D |
| 279 | Leominster Herefordshire | 11,206 | 43.7 | 13.5 | 19.8 | D |
| 280 | Bedlington Northumberland | 16,186 | 41.3 | 16.2 | 18.3 | D |
| 281 | Rochford Essex | 12,617 | 42.2 | 15.3 | 8.2 | D |
| 282 | Hoyland South Yorkshire | 15,527 | 35.9 | 21.6 | 18.6 | D |
| 283 | Swinton South Yorkshire | 15,911 | 41.2 | 16.4 | 8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 312 | Morpeth Northumberland | 14,419 | 45.3 | 18.4 | 16.8 | D |
| … | ||||||
| 364 | Haverfordwest Dyfed | 12,088 | 91.4 | 28.6 | 32.3 | 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 Bedlington, and others in Northumberland.
Crime in Bedlington 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 16 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 Bedlington identify a suspect less often than across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 76% of Bedlington’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 32% of violent and sexual offences against 19%. Most violent cases close as “unable to prosecute” (0% here), usually because the victim doesn’t support a prosecution. About 5% 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. 961 crimes.
Lowest recorded crime in Bedlington West, Bedlington East and Bedlington Central; highest in Sleekburn
| Ward | Residents | Violent | Homes & vehicles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedlington West | 3,480 | 23.6 | 6.6 | |
| Bedlington East | 4,562 | 38.7 | 21.5 | |
| Bedlington Central | 5,105 | 45.6 | 14.6 | |
| Sleekburn | 3,039 | 50 | 16.9 |
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | 462 | 74% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 259 | 38% shoplifting & theft |
| Sports and recreation grounds | 139 | 45% violent |
| Car parks | 130 | 52% anti-social behaviour |
A ward’s rate counts crimes where they happened, not where victims live. 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 Bedlington. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Crimes per 1,000 residents a year by council ward (the part of each ward inside Bedlington’s built-up area), September 2023 to August 2026. Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Bedlington’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 75 collisions with injuries inside Bedlington in five years. 13 people were killed or seriously injured: 7 on foot and 0 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 Bedlington’s size would see about 1 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bedlington’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Bedlington had 16.1 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people (23.8).
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 Bedlington’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Bedlington
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedlington | 16,186 | 41.3 | 16.2 | D |
| Stakeford | 8,197 | 30.7 | 13.4 | C |
| Blyth | 39,731 | 49.3 | 23.2 | D |
| Ashington | 28,279 | 53.4 | 27.2 | D− |
| Cramlington | 28,846 | 31 | 14.4 | C |
| Pegswood | 3,302 | 26.2 | 14.6 | C |
| New Hartley | 1,764 | 20.8 | 10.2 | B− |
| Newbiggin-by-the-Sea | 5,951 | 36.8 | 21.7 | D |
Bedlington records more graded crime per resident than 4 of its 7 neighbours. Stakeford, 2 miles away, records 30.7 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Bedlington’s 41.3.
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
- Some months are short. Northumbria Police published January 2026 and February 2026 only in part or not at all. Those months are left out of the rates, which average the months that were published in full; the raw counts include what was published.
- 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 Bedlington 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 Bedlington
Is Bedlington safe?
Police recorded 41.3 violent and sexual offences and 16.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Bedlington’s built-up area). That earns a D for safety: less crime per resident than 14% of UK towns. Among 364 UK towns of 11,000 to 22,000 people, Bedlington is 280th from the least crime.
What are the safest areas of Bedlington?
By council ward, Bedlington West, Bedlington East and Bedlington Central record the least violent and household crime per resident: 23.6, 38.7 and 45.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 a year (3-year average), against 50 in Sleekburn.
Is crime going up in Bedlington?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 18%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage fell 25%, shoplifting and theft held steady and anti-social behaviour rose 11%. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Bedlington?
Violence & sexual offences: 517 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (188) and public order (128), with 331 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Bedlington compare with Blyth?
Blyth records 49.3 violent and sexual offences and 23.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Bedlington’s 41.3 and 16.2, 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.