Crime and Safety in Thundersley and South Benfleet
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Thundersley and South Benfleet is the second safest medium-sized town in Essex, and is the 136th most dangerous overall out of Essex's 315 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Thundersley and South Benfleet in 2026 is 40 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares favourably to Essex's overall crime rate, coming in 42% lower than the Essex rate of 69 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Thundersley and South Benfleet is among the top 20 safest medium-sized towns, and the 4,601st most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In January 2026, Thundersley and South Benfleet was the worst medium-sized town in Essex for burglary, with 17 crimes reported and a crime rate of 0.33 per 1,000 daytime population. February 2026 was also a bad month for Thundersley and South Benfleet residents, when it was Essex's most dangerous medium-sized town for robbery, recording 3 crimes at a rate of 0.06 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Thundersley and South Benfleet are violence and sexual offences, with 994 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 20. This is 1.6% lower than 2025's figure of 1,010 offences and a difference of 0.33 from 2025's crime rate of 20. Thundersley and South Benfleet's least common crime is theft from the person, with 10 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 11% from 2025's figure of 9 crimes.
Thundersley and South Benfleet 2026 Crime Scorecard
Second Safest
Medium-Sized Towns, Essex
35% lower, regional crime rate
East of England
44% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Thundersley and South Benfleet is 35% lower than the East of England and 44% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Thundersley and South Benfleet Crime Rate Over Time
| Thundersley and South Benfleet | |
| East of England | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Thundersley and South Benfleet Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Thundersley and South Benfleet represent the time frame between January 2016 and April 2026. Each point on the map represents an area where crimes have been recorded locally.
Use Crime Map
Hover over a point to see a breakdown of crime types recorded at that location. You can also filter by individual crime types, or use a combinations of offences to visualise the data you need.
See How Thundersley and South Benfleet Compares
You can compare Thundersley and South Benfleet's crime statistics against any other town, village, or city from across the country. Search for a location's name below to see how they stack up.
Introduction to Thundersley and South Benfleet's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Thundersley and South Benfleet up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Thundersley and South Benfleet's 1,049 postcodes using three area sizes for comparison:
- Within a Five-Minute Walk
- Within a Ten-Minute Walk
- Within a Fifteen-Minute Walk
Individual crime risk scores and index figures are for the 12-month period ending April 2026 unless otherwise stated.
CrimeRate Insights
Looking into a specific address in Thundersley and South Benfleet? CrimeRate Insights reports convert raw numbers into practical insight for any location, from single addresses and postcodes, up to major towns and cities.
Crime rates don’t happen by themselves; they follow people and patterns. Where crowds gather - near pubs and late-night venues, around the station, by supermarkets and forecourts - incidents naturally concentrate.
That doesn’t mean an area is "bad"; it usually means footfall is higher.
Your report explores these factors in a calm, non-judgemental way, putting the numbers in context and helping you spot what’s typical for places like this.
Crime Risk Scores
Thundersley and South Benfleet • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Thundersley and South Benfleet has a crime risk score of 346. This is based on analysis of 1,049 nearby areas within Thundersley and South Benfleet, with "most" referring to roughly two thirds of the nearby locations.
Crime risk scores are on a scale of 1 to 1,000 and consider the severity of the crimes involved, as determined by sentencing guidelines. A score of 1 represents the lowest risk, and 1,000 the highest risk. This approach ensures that - unlike overall crime rate figures - bicycle theft is not given the same importance in Thundersley and South Benfleet's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Thundersley and South Benfleet, crime risk scores are typically around 346, while in Essex they are average 496.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 449 (502 for Essex), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 538 (Essex 509).
Trends in Crime Risk
Thundersley and South Benfleet
Calculated via Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess, the Seasonality Adjusted line represents the original data with seasonality subtracted, and the Trend line has been plotted unadjusted. Overall trend direction has been identified using the Mann-Kendall trend test, and rate calculated from the slope of the best-fit line identified from linear regression.
The 10-year trend indicates a decrease of 12% in Thundersley and South Benfleet's crime risk score. This is potentially a strong signal of how the crime risk is evolving. Cross-referencing with major cultural events and Covid's impact during this time is advised.
Looking at the previous five years, the trend in Thundersley and South Benfleet's crime risk score is down by 26%. While potentially a good indicator of the overall risk trend, analysis may offer further insight when combined with the checks mentioned above.
Over the last year, Thundersley and South Benfleet's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 7%, indicating that the risk profile is going down. This is an extremely short time period for crime trend analysis, and caution should be exercised when interpreting this figure.
Crime Rates and Indexes
Thundersley and South Benfleet
The CrimeRate Index shows how crime rates compare against the national average.
1.0 equals the average
2.0 is double
3.0 triple
0.5 is half and
0.25 a quarter.
Highest Crime Rates
Thundersley and South Benfleet • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Excluding other crime and other theft because their geographic location is often not relevant, anti-social behaviour as its definition is too wide, and bicycle theft for its specificity.
Possession of Weapons offences have a crime rate of 0.54 reports per 1,000 people in Thundersley and South Benfleet, which is 0.77 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 27 crime reports logged by Essex Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Essex Police recorded 120 reports of Burglary in Thundersley and South Benfleet, resulting in a crime rate of 2.38 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 0.76.
The crime rate for Violence and Sexual Offences is 0.64 times the national average at 20 reports per 1,000. This is from 994 crime reports reported to Essex Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Thundersley and South Benfleet
Excluding other crime and other theft, anti-social behaviour, and bicycle theft, and calculated with the same STL method described in Trends in Crime Risk, using CrimeRate Index figures to identify crime types that are trending above or below the national average, and the analysis timeframe limited to the last three years.
Burglary offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 1.00 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 0.47 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 113% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.29 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.29 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 0% over this timeframe.
Drugs offences are trending upwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.52 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Drugs CrimeRate Index was 0.57 times the national average, and the current trend indicates an increase of 9% over this timeframe.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Thundersley and South Benfleet
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Vehicle Crime offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.74 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Vehicle Crime CrimeRate Index was 1.00 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 26% over this timeframe.
Robbery offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.40 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Robbery CrimeRate Index was 0.22 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 82% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Thundersley and South Benfleet • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Thundersley and South Benfleet | Essex | East of England | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 193 | 3.79 | 0.27 | 15,826 | 7.63 | 0.54 | 74,182 | 10.23 | 0.72 |
| Bicycle Theft | 12 | 0.24 | 0.46 | 1,211 | 0.59 | 0.81 | 5,325 | 0.72 | 0.99 |
| Burglary | 120 | 2.38 | 0.76 | 5,328 | 2.58 | 0.82 | 17,593 | 2.42 | 0.77 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 196 | 3.85 | 0.61 | 12,427 | 5.98 | 0.95 | 40,107 | 5.51 | 0.88 |
| Drugs | 79 | 1.57 | 0.51 | 6,807 | 3.27 | 1.06 | 18,935 | 2.59 | 0.84 |
| Other Crime | 44 | 0.88 | 0.52 | 3,330 | 1.61 | 0.87 | 12,241 | 1.70 | 0.92 |
| Other Theft | 141 | 2.80 | 0.49 | 10,377 | 4.98 | 0.88 | 34,703 | 4.78 | 0.84 |
| Possession of Weapons | 27 | 0.54 | 0.77 | 1,752 | 0.84 | 0.99 | 5,931 | 0.83 | 0.98 |
| Public Order | 135 | 2.69 | 0.46 | 10,675 | 5.12 | 0.88 | 32,088 | 4.42 | 0.76 |
| Robbery | 17 | 0.34 | 0.38 | 1,433 | 0.69 | 0.58 | 4,492 | 0.61 | 0.52 |
| Shoplifting | 141 | 2.79 | 0.39 | 13,424 | 6.46 | 0.91 | 43,068 | 5.94 | 0.83 |
| Theft From the Person | 10 | 0.20 | 0.26 | 997 | 0.49 | 0.32 | 3,654 | 0.52 | 0.34 |
| Vehicle Crime | 122 | 2.42 | 0.56 | 10,314 | 4.97 | 1.16 | 27,821 | 3.84 | 0.89 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 994 | 19.51 | 0.64 | 65,641 | 31.56 | 1.04 | 200,684 | 27.65 | 0.91 |
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Total Crime by Year
Thundersley and South Benfleet | Essex | East of England | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 2,038 | 40.21 | 0.57 | 143,716 | 69.14 | 0.96 | 446,642 | 61.53 | 0.85 |
| 2025 | 2,200 | 43.50 | 0.60 | 139,780 | 67.68 | 0.91 | 441,082 | 61.31 | 0.83 |
| 2024 | 2,205 | 43.84 | 0.60 | 150,055 | 73.45 | 0.97 | 443,460 | 62.34 | 0.83 |
| 2023 | 2,391 | 47.78 | 0.62 | 162,636 | 80.64 | 1.02 | 474,715 | 67.51 | 0.85 |
| 2022 | 2,588 | 51.83 | 0.69 | 166,739 | 83.60 | 1.09 | 471,617 | 67.78 | 0.88 |
| 2021 | 2,557 | 51.16 | 0.76 | 150,121 | 75.78 | 1.11 | 437,869 | 63.51 | 0.93 |
| 2020 | 2,533 | 50.79 | 0.69 | 162,259 | 82.34 | 1.11 | 465,376 | 67.88 | 0.92 |
| 2019 | 2,670 | 54.10 | 0.72 | 161,365 | 82.25 | 1.08 | 482,539 | 70.87 | 0.93 |
| 2018 | 2,297 | 46.99 | 0.67 | 137,578 | 70.55 | 0.99 | 439,882 | 64.91 | 0.91 |
| 2017 | 1,862 | 38.19 | 0.61 | 122,860 | 63.43 | 0.99 | 396,747 | 58.76 | 0.92 |
| 2016 | 551 | 11.31 | 0.60 | 37,128 | 19.19 | 1.01 | 116,493 | 17.30 | 0.91 |
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Thundersley and South Benfleet Compared to Nearby Medium-Sized Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Medium-Sized Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loughton | 2,545 | 68.13 | 69% more dangerous |
| Braintree | 3,311 | 65.43 | 63% more dangerous |
| Brentwood | 4,383 | 66.33 | 65% more dangerous |
| Canvey Island | 2,535 | 64.23 | 60% more dangerous |
| Witham | 1,943 | 61.07 | 52% more dangerous |
| Wickford | 1,595 | 54.83 | 36% more dangerous |
| Rayleigh | 1,366 | 40.50 | 0.72% more dangerous |
| Thundersley and South Benfleet | 2,038 | 40.21 | - |
| Billericay | 1,170 | 38.18 | 5% safer |
Comparing Thundersley and South Benfleet to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Thundersley and South Benfleet | 40.21 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 98% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 106% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 109% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 143% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 160% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 161% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 165% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 166% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 168% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 211% more dangerous |
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Offences In and Around Thundersley and South Benfleet's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Thundersley and South Benfleet that are named and have had crimes recorded within their boundaries in the 12 months to Apr 2026.
| Name | ASB | Drugs | Public Order | Robbery | VSO | All Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Common | - | - | - | - | 3 | 0 |
| Woodside Cemetery | 2 | 1 | - | - | 2 | 12 |
| Swans Green | - | - | 2 | - | 12 | 1 |
| King George V Playing Field | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| Thundersley Oaks Nature Park | 2 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 0 |
| The John H Burrows Recreation Ground | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | 6 | 13 |
| South Benfleet Playing Field | 7 | - | 6 | 1 | 18 | 23 |
| Hadleigh Castle | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 17 |
Recent Crimes in Thundersley and South Benfleet
The 20 most recent crime reports in Thundersley and South Benfleet.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Benfleet Park Road | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Mornington Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Petrol Station | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Robbery | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Benfleet Road | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Shoplifting | On or near Supermarket | |
| April 2026 | Vehicle crime | On or near Mayflowers | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Norwood Drive | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Apeldoorn | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Benfleet Park Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Malyon Court Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Sports/Recreation Area | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Homestead Way | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Blythe Way | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Benfleet | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Sherwood Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Broughton Road | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Lawnscourt |
Methodology & Data Sources
Thundersley and South Benfleet Crime Report
Data Sources & Processing
Every month, CrimeRate processes crime reports from data.police.uk, the UK's official provider of open crime report data. Each crime report includes anonymised coordinates, most often "snapped" to the middle of the nearest street, or to the nearest major landmark. The reports also include the month and year the crime was reported, as well as the type of crime.
Data releases on data.police.uk happen once a month, with a two-month delay. This means that, for example, crimes reported in Thundersley and South Benfleet during June 2026 will typically become available in August 2026. The latest release is for Apr 2026 and was released in Jun 2026. To provide current and historical crime statistics, CrimeRate processed 61,669,232 crime reports for the latest release.
Thundersley and South Benfleet Data Points
For Thundersley and South Benfleet, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2022 release of their Built Up Areas dataset, using the BUA22CD column value E63004808.
Due to the 2021 Census being conducted during a UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown, the daytime population figures released so far cannot be relied on for purposes such as comparing crime rates. Instead, CrimeRate uses Thundersley and South Benfleet's daytime - or "workday" - population of 32,673 from the ONS 2011 Census for calculations throughout the site.
All geographic boundaries use the full resolution - extent of the realm versions where provided to avoid missing crime reports near coastlines and rivers - the banks of the Thames in particular - that would otherwise not be included when using the clipped to the coastline datasets.
Calculating Crime Rates
CrimeRate locates the UK region, county, and town/city/village locality for each crime report, and calculates the crime rate by taking the sum of all crime reports, dividing it by the locality's daytime / "workday" population, and multiplying the result by 1,000 to get the crime rate per 1,000.
Crime Risk Score Calculations
CrimeRate calculates crime counts for local, nearby, and wider areas for every postcode in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The postcodes locations are deduplicated by a process that ensures distinct points are approximately 50 metres apart. This process removes the bias that would otherwise come from counting the same crimes several times in heavily populated areas.
Using a custom algorithm developed in-house, CrimeRate applies a crime severity weighting to each area's crime counts, based on the type of crime reported. This increases or decreases the crime count, or zeroes it out entirely, depending on the crime type. A separate crime severity rate is then calculated, standardised, and scaled to fit the crime risk score range of 1 to 1,000, with 1 being the lowest score, and 1,000 the highest.
Crime risk scores undergo further analysis per town, city, and village plus other areas including police forces and neighbourhoods. CrimeRate uses percentiles to work out the most common range of crime risk scores in each locality. This includes identifying the high and low bounds where approximately 68% of scores fall, and finding the median (50th percentile) for easy reference.
The crime types with a weight of zero are: Anti-Social Behaviour; Bicycle Theft; Other Crime; Other Theft; and Shoplifting. The highest weights to are assigned to Violence & Sexual Offences, and the lowest to Vehicle Crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crime in Thundersley and South Benfleet