Police have welcomed the latest crime figures that show the number of robberies and burglaries on Teesside have fallen by up to a quarter.

Since April, there have been 1,186 fewer victims of crime across the Cleveland Police force area.

They include 374 fewer victims of house burglary - an 18.5 per cent fall; 279 fewer victims of car crime - a 7.1 per cent fall and 130 fewer robbery victims - a 27.1 per cent fall.

Cleveland's Assistant Chief Constable Derek Bonnard said the reduction in crime had been helped by major crackdowns such as Operation Sabre, which targets prolific offenders.

He said that offending was down by almost five per cent since April and that during last month alone, there was a 43 per cent fall in house burglaries, and a near 20 per cent drop in vehicle crime.

Mr Bonnard said: "This is good news for the people of Cleveland and bad news for criminals because there will be no let up on our part. We are determined to drive down crime even further.

"The staff of Cleveland Police have worked hard to achieve these results. We are putting the people of Cleveland first, working with the police authority and a wide range of partners to deliver a better quality of life to our communities.''

He said there was a focus on delivering results, saying: "We want to see the good news in these crime statistics repeated again and again in the months ahead and we are determined to achieve more.''

Small increases in crimes of violence and sexual offending last month mirrored a national trend.

Cleveland Police Authority chairman Ted Cox said a combination of putting the maximum level of resources into front line policing and working with partner organisations was delivering results. He said the fall in crimes across the Force area was "excellent."

He said: "We still face many challenges, not least in tackling the kind of anti-social behaviour that brings misery and distress to so many people, but these kind of figures send the message to all criminals that the force, the police authority and the entire local community is determined to put them out of business and bring them to justice.''