Ask Pat Smith if she thinks the Colchester area is safe.

The 53-year-old became one of the latest victims of violent crime when she was attacked while stargazing with her partner.

She is among a growing number of people who have suffered from violence which would seem more likely on an inner-city sink estate than the leafy suburbs of an affluent town.

It's a far cry from the headlines bandied around the media in September last year when the town was hailed the safest in England and Wales by think-tank Reform.

Since then the town has seen three high-profile killings, a series of armed robberies and an assortment of vicious muggings.

Police say they are doing all they can to combat violent crime in the town and say compared to other places with more than 100,000 people, the size of town Reform based its findings on, it is still among the safest places to live.

Try telling that to victims of crime.

Ms Smith had to take a week off from her teaching job after she was attacked saying the injuries to her face, bruised and blackened after she and her partner were set upon in Wivenhoe, were too severe to face the children.

Last week an 81-year-old was dragged into a bush and robbed for treasured wedding rings as she walked through a park off Mersea Road in broad daylight. She was left bruised and distressed.

Mum-of-eight Lisa Sweeney, 24-year-old Helen Maughan and 32-year-old Colchester nurse Ella Chimweta have all been killed within seven months.

Ram raiders attacked Bradfield's village shop last week, a 93-year-old was attacked in his Dovercourt home by robbers and a boy with learning difficulties was assaulted at Colchester's Hillyfields within the past few days.

Armed robbers have also contributed to the column inches with anything from shot guns to machetes being used to hold up shop keepers. And, on the usually quiet estate of St John's, a security guard was held up by two men, one carrying a hand gun, who made off with his cash box containing a five figure sum of cash.

It is incidents like these which have helped increase the amount of recorded violent crimes in Colchester and Tendring over the past year.

Since April 1 to yesterday there have been 1,872 recorded violent crimes in the two districts, 321 more than during the same period in 2006.

The category spans incidents ranging from murder and violent wounding to reports of dangerous dogs, harassment, bankruptcy, common assault without injury and public disorder without violence.

In fact the spectrum is so broad Professor Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Statistical Society, last week advised the Government that the classification of violent crime must change, as less than 50 per cent of all recorded violent crime offences actually involve violence.

That said, 606 reports of actual bodily harm - nearly 40 per cent of which were committed by a stranger - contributed to the number of violent crimes recorded for Colchester and Tendring in the last three months. As are the 276 common assaults reported, 102 of which were said to be domestic related.

Although figures can't be broken down to separate districts, senior officers say the likelihood of being the victim of violent crime in Colchester is low.

Superintendent Alison Newcomb said: "Colchester still remains one of the safest towns in the country and the current levels of recorded violent crime should not make the public feel unsafe on our streets.

"With the help of the public we have managed to detect 52 per cent of all those violent crimes reported."

She added that the common cause of the majority of all violent assaults was excessive drinking of alchohol at home and in public places.

Supt Newcomb said: "In Tendring and Colchester officers do not tolerate incidents of abusive conduct in the street, and deal with the offenders robustly, and this pushes up the level of recorded crime by arresting and imposing fixed fine penalties or cautioning those engaged in disorderly conduct in the streets."

As for whether Colchester will remain the safest town, bosses at Reform say we will have to wait until September to find out.

VIOLENCE MAKING THE HEADLINES
A selection of headlines in the Gazette since last October on stories about violence

October

  • Student robbed at knife- point
  • Shopkeeper threatened with shotgun
  • Machete robbers make off with cash
  • Woman mugged by hooded man
  • Man dies in stabbing

    November

  • Antiques shop hit by masked men
  • Teenager injured after "vicious" street attack
  • One knife crime a week
  • Sick thugs film attack

    December

  • Fight man falls in front of bus
  • Murder bid probe
  • Police seek man after attack
  • Cut-throat fear in taxi driver hold-up

    January

  • Three arrested over attacks
  • Petrol station armed robbery
  • Motorist fights off machete attackers
  • Second machete robbery

    February

  • 19-year-old found with stab wound

    March

  • Man stabbed
  • Gang attack cyclist
  • Teenagers kick and punch man

    April

  • Woman robbed and beaten up
  • Attack on man at murder site

    May

  • Woman's body found in river
  • Man beaten by thugs

    June

  • Woman mugged
  • Jewellery shop raided

    July

  • Hero guard punches robber
  • Robbers drag 81-year old in bushes and rob her