Photo: Andrew Tryon · CC BY-SA 2.0Backworth stands out for shoplifting: 8.5 times the rate of a typical town its size
Violent crime was down 10% in a year. Still, it has less crime per resident than 16% of the UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, 1,308 in all. Each year brought 34.6 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 incidents of burglary, vehicle crime and damage for every 1,000 residents.
Crimes and reports per 1,000 residents (Census 2021) a year, September 2023 to August 2026.
What stands out about safety in Backworth
Violent crime fell over the year
In the 12 months to August 2026 police recorded 10% less violent crime per resident in Backworth than in the year before; across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people violent crime held steady. Burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage held steady (towns its size: held steady). Trend ↓
More crime than many places its size
Of 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Backworth has the 600th lowest rate of graded crime: lower than Abercarn, Cranbrook and Botley, higher than Sutton Bridge, Lenham and Harrietsham and St Asaph. Towns its size ↓
Written from the police.uk and government data on this page. Figures are crimes police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Backworth’s C− for safety
A firm grade. Built on 672 graded crimes over three years. The grade adds violent and sexual offences and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident and ranks Backworth 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, Backworth runs highest on shoplifting (15.6 per 1,000 against 1.8), burglary (4.7 per 1,000 against 1.9) and vehicle crime (3.6 per 1,000 against 2).
Show as a table
| Category | In the grade | Reports | Per 1,000 | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violence & sexual offences | Violent | 111 | 24.8 | 22.4 |
| Shoplifting | not graded | 70 | 15.6 | 1.8 |
| Anti-social behaviour | not graded | 54 | 12 | 8.8 |
| Criminal damage & arson | Home & vehicle | 32 | 7.1 | 4.5 |
| Public order | not graded | 28 | 6.2 | 3.6 |
| Other theft | not graded | 24 | 5.4 | 3.2 |
| Burglary | Home & vehicle | 21 | 4.7 | 1.9 |
| Vehicle crime | Home & vehicle | 16 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Robbery | Violent | 8 | 1.8 | 0.2 |
| Other crime | not graded | 6 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| Drugs | not graded | 4 | 0.9 | 1 |
| Bicycle theft | not graded | 1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Possession of weapons | Violent | 1 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Theft from the person | not graded | 0 | 0 | 0 |
“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 2,500 to 10,000 people.
How Backworth’s neighbourhoods rank in England
0% 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.
Backworth’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.
Towns its size: Backworth comes 600th of 706
| # | Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Shops & theft | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailrigg Lancashire | 4,788 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 7.9 | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 56 | Cleadon Tyne and Wear | 4,599 | 9.4 | 8.7 | 5.1 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 257 | Whitburn Tyne and Wear | 5,082 | 19.3 | 8.8 | 15.2 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 383 | Rowlands Gill Tyne and Wear | 5,254 | 21.8 | 12 | 12.3 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 415 | Sunniside Tyne and Wear | 3,422 | 22.7 | 13.2 | 9.6 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 597 | Sutton Bridge Lincolnshire | 3,912 | 37.1 | 14.7 | 7.7 | C− |
| 598 | Lenham and Harrietsham Kent | 4,763 | 35.5 | 16.3 | 29.1 | C− |
| 599 | St Asaph Clwyd | 3,483 | 39.3 | 12.5 | 10.1 | C− |
| 600 | Backworth Tyne and Wear | 4,483 | 34.6 | 17.2 | 23.3 | C− |
| 601 | Bagillt Clwyd | 5,943 | 39.3 | 12.7 | 6.1 | C− |
| 602 | Tumble Dyfed | 4,040 | 40.5 | 11.5 | 2.8 | C− |
| 603 | Mytholmroyd West Yorkshire | 3,852 | 36.7 | 15.4 | 17 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 706 | Eastchurch Kent | 3,381 | 132 | 13.9 | 3.5 | 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 Backworth, and others in Tyne and Wear.
How crime in Backworth 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 2,500 to 10,000 people that police.uk covers each month (Greater Manchester has no data).
Rolling twelve-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 -10% (towns its size +1%), homes and vehicles -2% (towns its size -1%), shoplifting and theft +30% (towns its size +2%), anti-social behaviour -28% (towns its size +0%).
Crime in Backworth 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 15 burglaries, vehicle crimes or acts of criminal damage, plus 21 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 73% of Backworth’s burglaries, vehicle crimes and criminal damage, against 69% across UK towns, and for 34% 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 6% 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. 255 crimes.
No one died in a collision on Backworth’s roads in 2021–2025
Police recorded 16 collisions with injuries inside Backworth in five years. 2 people were killed or seriously injured: 0 on foot and 0 on a bicycle.
Most UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people (81%) had no road deaths in these five years, and Backworth is one of them.
Counting serious injuries too, a town of Backworth’s size at the median for UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people would see about 4 people killed or seriously injured in five years; Backworth had 2.
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 Backworth’s built-up area, 2021–2025. Described here; not part of the Safety Grade.
Crime in the places around Backworth
| Town | People | Violent | Homes & vehicles | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backworth | 4,483 | 34.6 | 17.2 | C− |
| Shiremoor | 6,965 | 27.8 | 13.7 | C |
| Killingworth | 12,180 | 30.2 | 16.1 | C |
| Longbenton | 26,882 | 28.3 | 15.4 | C |
| Seghill | 2,799 | 41 | 13.9 | C− |
| Seaton Delaval | 8,012 | 30 | 12.9 | C |
| Wallsend | 45,351 | 47.6 | 21.7 | D |
| Dudley | 4,799 | 36.6 | 11 | C− |
Backworth records more graded crime per resident than 5 of its 7 neighbours; only Seghill and Wallsend record more. Shiremoor, 0.9 miles away, records 27.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year (3-year average), against Backworth’s 34.6.
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 Backworth 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 Backworth
Is Backworth safe?
Police recorded 34.6 violent and sexual offences and 17.2 burglaries, vehicle crimes and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year over the three years to August 2026 (police.uk, inside Backworth’s built-up area). That earns a C− for safety: less crime per resident than 19% of UK towns. Among 706 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people, Backworth is 600th from the least crime.
Is crime going up in Backworth?
In the 12 months to August 2026, against the 12 months before, violent crime fell 10%, burglary, vehicle crime and damage held steady, shoplifting and theft rose 30% and anti-social behaviour fell 28%. Across UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, violent crime held steady.
What is the most common crime in Backworth?
Violence & sexual offences: 111 in the 12 months to August 2026, which in police.uk includes harassment, stalking and assault without injury. Next came shoplifting (70) and criminal damage & arson (32), with 54 reports of anti-social behaviour.
How does Backworth compare with Newcastle upon Tyne?
Newcastle upon Tyne records 47.8 violent and sexual offences and 24.2 crimes against homes and vehicles per 1,000 residents a year, against Backworth’s 34.6 and 17.2, 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.