OUT of the 8,360 crimes reported in Reading throughout 2022, crimes of ‘violence and sexual offences’ were the most common.

A total of 2,809 crimes that took place in the Berkshire town fell under the ‘violence and sexual offences’ category, according to statistics from Thames Valley Police.

The force describes these crimes as ‘offences against the person such as common assaults, grievous bodily harm and sexual offences’.

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‘Public order’, meaning offences which cause fear, alarm or distress, was the second most reported crime with 1,031 cases and theft was the third most reported at 773 cases.

Last year, the majority of the crimes were reported in the month of August with 905 reports. The majority were reported as taking place on or near Reading Station.

(Map - January to October)

In the month of August, 318 of the 905 cases reported were violence and sexual offences cases and a total of 81 of those took place on or near Reading Station.

A total of 32 took place on or near Richfield Avenue and another 32 cases took place on or near Tessa Road.

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The second highest month for crimes being reported was October with 780 cases, with 232 being violence and sexual offences, and the third highest month was November with 731 cases, with 243 being violence and sexual offences.

In October, 44 of the crimes reported took place on or a near a nightclub and 42 took place on or a near a supermarket.

A total of 54 crimes in the November took place in or near a shopping centre followed by 46 cases taking place on a near a nightclub as well.

However, more than 3,000 of the crimes reported in 2022 had no suspect identified after the investigation had been complete.

(Map - November to December)

A total of 3,042, 36 per cent, had no action taken as a result. A further 2,158 of the cases were unable to prosecute the suspect.

More than 900 of the cases are still under investigation, while a total of 879 of the cases have no status update.

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Some of the incidents which took place across the year did see a defendant taken to court with 203 waiting a court outcome and 137 cases having a court result unavailable.

Some offenders were given a caution, a total of 79, and 28 were given a penalty notice. A local resolution was met for 262 of the cases reported and only four were dropped as they were considering ‘not in the public interest’.