Shocking reoffending rates revealed

According to data released by the Ministry of Justice, 30 per cent of offenders in Durham and the Tees Valley committed further crimes within 12 months.

The reoffending rate was the joint highest in the country, with only Merseyside having a comparable rate.

In North Yorkshire, one in four reoffended within a year, which mirrored the average for England and Wales.

Figures for council areas showed that Hartlepool had the worst rate in the region at 37 per cent, while Alnwick, in Northumberland, had the lowest at 19 per cent, just ahead of Richmondshire, in North Yorkshire, at 20 per cent.

The rates have been published for the first time online at Government website sentencing.justice.gov.uk The site also shows the average number of crimes committed by reoffenders.

Chester-le-Street and Middlesbrough reoffenders committed the highest number, at 3.4 offences.

Reoffending rates for criminals under supervision in the community by the Probation Service are also given on the site. It reveals that the North- East figures are again the highest in the country, at 44 per cent for the Northumbria Probation Trust and 42 per cent for the Durham and Tees Valley trust.

The rate for North Yorkshire was 36 per cent, which was just above the national average of 35 per cent.

A spokesman for Durham and Tees Valley Probation Trust said the higher figures related to offenders sentenced to community orders and supervised by the Probation Service, rather than all offenders sentenced in a court.

The spokesman said: “This specific group of offenders clearly have more complex needs, have established patterns of offending and are sentenced to more robust punishments.”

Announcing the new online tool, Justice Minister Lord McNally said: “It is no good just publishing pages of data. We need to make sure we present it in a way that is easy to understand.

“That is why the Making Sense of Criminal Justice website, which includes new maps and mythbusters, is such an important step.”