Criminal women

WOMEN can be just as prolific as men when it comes to crimes committed in Comet country.

We asked Hertfordshire Constabulary, using the Freedom of Information Act, for the crime figures for Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth GC and Baldock between April and August this year, broken down for the first time into those committed by men and women.

Out of the 854 crimes reported, 193 were committed by women with Stevenage women top of the crime league out of the four towns being responsible for 110 crimes.

In Stevenage women came close to beating the male villains when it came to shoplifting with 53 crimes being committed compared to 56 by men.

In Hitchin women actually topped two crime categories in fraud and forgery and theft from a person.

Women accounted for more than half of the 25 crimes in Baldock and were top for shoplifting with five incidents out of eight recorded, top for theft with just one case and drew with the men on criminal damage and arson with two each.

There were 195 violent crimes against the person in Stevenage, 35 of them committed by women, during the four month period compared to 72 in Hitchin, 41 in Letchworth GC and just 19 in Baldock.

Stevenage again put their neighbours in the shade when it came to shoplifting with 109 crimes compared to 41 in Letchworth GC, 31 in Hitchin and just three in Baldock.

Fifty crimes of criminal damage, including arson, were reported in Stevenage compared to 23 in Hitchin, 13 in Letchworth GC and four in Baldock.

Stevenage also had 32 drug crimes, only three involving women, against 14 in Hitchin, five in Letchworth GC and just one in Baldock with no women charged for drug offences in those towns.

Fraud and forgery saw 25 reported in Stevenage with six by women, compared to five in Letchworth GC, four in Hitchin and one in Baldock.

There were more sex offences committed in Stevenage, nine, compared to the other three towns put together. Letchworth GC recorded four, Hitchin three and Baldock one. All offences were committed by men.