Photo: Anthony Foster · CC BY-SA 2.0More burglary, vehicle crime and damage is recorded per resident in Prudhoe than in 75% of UK towns
With 43 cases in the 12 months to August 2026, burglary reaches 4.2 per 1,000 residents in Prudhoe, well above the typical 2.4. The overall Safety Grade is C (#6 of 20 in Northumberland), which means more crime per resident than 69% of UK towns, judged on crimes police recorded inside its built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026. Even so, violent crime was down 32% in a year. Behind the grade sit 28.4 violent and sexual offences and 13.6 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage per 1,000 people a year.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Prudhoe
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 32% less violent crime per resident in Prudhoe 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 rose 34% (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
About the middle for a town its size
Of 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Prudhoe has the 255th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Gowerton, Magherafelt and Fazeley, higher than Sandbach, Shefford and Chigwell. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Prudhoe’s grade
A fairly firm grade. Built on 1,258 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Prudhoe against every UK town of 1,000 or more.
Per resident, against all UK towns; beside it, how it compares with towns its size.
How crime in Prudhoe 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 -32% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles +34% (towns its size -2%), shoplifting and theft -14% (towns its size +1%), anti-social behaviour +3% (towns its size -4%).
How Prudhoe’s neighbourhoods rank in England
44% of residents live in the lowest-crime 30% of England’s neighbourhoods, and 0% 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.
Prudhoe’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.
What police recorded in the last 12 months
Against the typical town its size, Prudhoe runs highest on burglary (4.2 per 1,000 against 2.4), other crime (2.6 per 1,000 against 1.8) and anti-social behaviour (16.1 per 1,000 against 12.4). Other theft and shoplifting sit below it.
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 203 | 19.7 | 30.4 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 166 | 16.1 | 12.4 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 83 | 8.1 | 6.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 43 | 4.2 | 2.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 40 | 3.9 | 6.1 |
| Public order | not graded | 39 | 3.8 | 5.4 |
| Other theft | not graded | 29 | 2.8 | 4.4 |
| Other crime | not graded | 27 | 2.6 | 1.8 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 23 | 2.2 | 2.8 |
| Drugs | not graded | 8 | 0.8 | 1.9 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 5 | 0.5 | 0.7 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Robbery | Violent | 1 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
“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.
Crime in Prudhoe 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 14 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 7 shoplifting and theft reports, in the 12 months to August 2026. Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot is one recorded crime.
Police name a suspect about as often as across UK towns
No suspect was identified for 65% of Prudhoe’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 30% 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 4% 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. 447 crimes.
Prudhoe is 255th of 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greasby Merseyside | 9,175 | 11.3 | 3.7 | 2.5 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 61 | Ponteland Northumberland | 10,149 | 20.4 | 6.2 | 9.3 | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 252 | Sandbach Cheshire | 11,289 | 34.5 | 7.4 | 12 | C |
| 253 | Shefford Bedfordshire | 7,317 | 27 | 14.9 | 28.1 | C |
| 254 | Chigwell Essex | 12,251 | 24.1 | 17.8 | 5.1 | C |
| 255 | Prudhoe Northumberland | 10,285 | 28.4 | 13.6 | 9.1 | C |
| 256 | Hornsea East Riding of Yorkshire | 8,797 | 32.4 | 9.7 | 5.5 | C |
| 257 | Sandiacre Derbyshire | 9,373 | 33.1 | 9.1 | 9.3 | C |
| 258 | Longridge Lancashire | 8,739 | 31.1 | 11.3 | 9.7 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 266 | Seaton Delaval Northumberland | 8,012 | 30 | 12.9 | 19.6 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 278 | Stakeford Northumberland | 8,197 | 30.7 | 13.4 | 18.2 | C |
| 279 | Hexham Northumberland | 10,945 | 31.9 | 12.3 | 14.9 | C |
| … | ||||||
| 453 | City of London London | 7,820 | 252.8 | 111.5 | 710 | 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 Prudhoe, and others in Northumberland.
Where in Prudhoe police recorded crime
| At or near | Reports | Mostly |
|---|---|---|
| Sports and recreation grounds | 89 | 53% shoplifting & theft |
| Petrol stations | 76 | 28% homes & vehicles |
| Shopping areas | 41 | 37% homes & vehicles |
| Police stations | 31 | 42% violent |
| Car parks | 29 | 38% violent |
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 Prudhoe. We show only these, never streets or homes.
Beside it, the public places police.uk named most often.
No one died in a collision on Prudhoe’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 29 collisions with injuries inside Prudhoe in five years. 12 people were killed or seriously injured: 8 on foot and 2 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 Prudhoe’s size would see about 0 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Prudhoe’s own rate (0.0) is context, not a ranking.
Counting serious injuries too, Prudhoe had 23.3 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents a year, about the same as 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 Prudhoe’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Prudhoe
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prudhoe | 10,285 | 28.4 | 13.6 | C |
| Ovingham | 1,155 | 26 | 8.6 | B− |
| Wylam | 1,661 | 7.4 | 6 | A+ |
| Stocksfield | 1,944 | 5.5 | 2.9 | A+ |
| Crawcrook and Greenside | 7,544 | 18.7 | 8.3 | B |
| Chopwell | 2,530 | 53.8 | 23.7 | D− |
| Heddon-on-the-Wall | 1,300 | 11.7 | 6.5 | A |
| High Spen | 1,933 | 20.8 | 8.6 | B |
Prudhoe records more graded crime per resident than 6 of its 7 neighbours; only Chopwell records more. Ovingham, 0.9 miles away, records 26 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Prudhoe’s 28.4.
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 Prudhoe 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 Prudhoe
Is Prudhoe safe?
Police recorded 28.4 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 Prudhoe’s built-up area). That earns a C for safety: less crime per resident than 31% of UK towns. Among 453 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people, Prudhoe is 255th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Prudhoe?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 32%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage rose 34%, shoplifting and theft fell 14% and anti-social behaviour held steady. Across UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Prudhoe?
Violence & sexual offences: 203 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came criminal damage & arson (83) and burglary (43), with 166 reports of anti-social behaviour.
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.