Is Thornton Heath deserving of its reputation as a crime ridden gang ghetto? The crime stats for Croydon reveal this is not the case.
In fact Thornton Heath is a safer place than neighbouring Selhurst, West Thornton, Broad Green, and South Norwood according to Met police crime stats.
Analysis of last year’s crime statistics has revealed Croydon’s hot spots.
In a league table of the 25 wards Thornton Heath is seventh with 1,916.
Of these reported crimes 538 were for anti social-behaviour and 461 violence and sexual offences. There was no further action in 47 per cent of all cases.
Bensham Manor is eleventh in the league with – 1,448 crimes.
It is a similar picture with 320 for anti-social behaviour and 410 violence and sexual offences with again no further action was taken in 46 per cent of cases.
These figures compare favourably with neighbouring wards: Selhurst 2,742 second, Broad Green 2864 third, West Thornton 2,358 fourth and South Norwood 1,939 crimes fifth.
It’s also worth mentioning that Croydon isn’t even in the top 10 worst boroughs for crime which features neighbouring Lambeth and Southwark.
The murder of Bjorn Brown on the border of Broad Green and Bensham Manor is however a timely reminder of how we need to stand together to stop young lives being lost in such a pointless way.
View The Chronicle December 2021 issue
