Crime and Safety in Morpeth
Last updated: 07 Jun 2026
Morpeth is among the top 5 safest small towns in Northumberland, and is the 26th most dangerous overall out of Northumberland's 163 towns, villages, and cities. The overall crime rate in Morpeth in 2026 is 71 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to Northumberland's overall crime rate, coming in 15% higher than the Northumberland rate of 62 per 1,000 daytime population. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Morpeth is the 376th safest small town, and the 2,955th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages.
In September 2024, Morpeth had the worst crime rate in Northumberland for shoplifting, with 37 crimes reported and a crime rate of 2.4 per 1,000 daytime population. December 2024 was also a bad month for Morpeth residents, when it was Northumberland's most dangerous area for theft from the person, recording 1 crime at a rate of 0.06 per 1,000 daytime population.
The most common crimes in Morpeth are violence and sexual offences, with 536 offences during 2026, giving a crime rate of 34. This is 17% lower than 2025's figure of 646 offences and a difference of 7.30 from 2025's crime rate of 41. Morpeth's least common crime is bicycle theft, with 3 offences recorded in 2026, an increase of 200% from 2025's figure of 1 crime.
Morpeth 2026 Crime Scorecard
Top 5 Safest
Small Towns, Northumberland
16% lower, regional crime rate
North East
1.1% lower, national crime rate
England, Wales & NI
Local Crime in Context
As of April 2026, the crime rate in Morpeth is 16% lower than the North East and 1.1% lower than the England, Wales & Northern Ireland overall figure.
Morpeth Crime Rate Over Time
| Morpeth | |
| North East | |
| England, Wales & NI |
Morpeth Crime Map
Incidents mapped in Morpeth 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 Morpeth Compares
You can compare Morpeth'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 Morpeth's crime statistics
This crime profile provides a detailed view of crime and safety around Morpeth up to April 2026, the most recent data release available. The crime figures and statistics have been calculated across each of Morpeth's 621 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 Morpeth? 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
Morpeth • 12 Months Ending April 2026
The typical five-minute walk within Morpeth has a crime risk score of 376. This is based on analysis of 621 nearby areas within Morpeth, 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 Morpeth's risk scores as, for example, robbery, or violence & sexual offences.
Within a five-minute walk of the typical location in Morpeth, crime risk scores are typically around 376, while in Northumberland they are average 527.
Areas within a ten-minute walk typically see crime risk scores of 363 (517 for Northumberland), and scores within a fifteen-minute walk are most often around 406 (Northumberland 513).
Trends in Crime Risk
Morpeth
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 11% in Morpeth'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.
The five-year trend may be static; no significant trend was identified in Morpeth's crime risk scores during this timeframe.
Over the last year, Morpeth's crime risk score has shown a downward trend of approximately 13%, 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
Morpeth
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
Morpeth • 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.
Public Order offences have a crime rate of 8.99 reports per 1,000 people in Morpeth, which is 1.55 times the national average. This figure is calculated from 143 crime reports logged by Northumbria Police during the 12-month period ending April 2026.
For the same period, Northumbria Police recorded 124 reports of Criminal Damage and Arson in Morpeth, resulting in a crime rate of 7.81 reports per 1,000, and a CrimeRate Index of 1.24.
The crime rate for Violence and Sexual Offences is 1.11 times the national average at 34 reports per 1,000. This is from 536 crime reports reported to Northumbria Police.
Most Significant 3-Year Increases in Crime Types
Morpeth
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.
No significant increases identified.
Most Significant 3-Year Decreases in Crime Types
Morpeth
Calculated with the same methodology as the largest increases section above.
Burglary offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.25 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Burglary CrimeRate Index was 1.70 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 85% over this timeframe.
Possession of Weapons offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of - for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Possession of Weapons CrimeRate Index was 0.86 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a near-complete decrease over this timeframe.
Shoplifting offences are trending downwards, and have a CrimeRate Index of 0.65 for the month of April 2026.
Three years ago, the monthly Shoplifting CrimeRate Index was 2.18 times the national average, and the current trend indicates a decrease of 70% over this timeframe.
Crime Type Breakdown & Heat Map
Morpeth • 12 Months Ending April 2026
Size and colour reflect the CrimeRate Index figures for each type of crime.
Morpeth | Northumberland | North East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Type | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| Anti-Social Behaviour | 183 | 11.46 | 0.81 | 5,853 | 16.66 | 1.18 | 60,647 | 19.76 | 1.40 |
| Bicycle Theft | 3 | 0.18 | 1.64 | 137 | 0.38 | 0.52 | 1,566 | 0.51 | 0.70 |
| Burglary | 42 | 2.65 | 0.92 | 1,008 | 2.86 | 0.91 | 12,568 | 4.10 | 1.31 |
| Criminal Damage and Arson | 124 | 7.81 | 1.24 | 2,581 | 7.34 | 1.17 | 31,671 | 10.32 | 1.64 |
| Drugs | 25 | 1.57 | 0.61 | 616 | 1.74 | 0.56 | 7,960 | 2.59 | 0.84 |
| Other Crime | 48 | 3.00 | 1.62 | 1,130 | 3.21 | 1.74 | 10,427 | 3.40 | 1.84 |
| Other Theft | 70 | 4.42 | 0.84 | 1,359 | 3.88 | 0.68 | 16,082 | 5.24 | 0.92 |
| Possession of Weapons | 3 | 0.18 | 0.82 | 225 | 0.63 | 0.74 | 2,627 | 0.84 | 0.99 |
| Public Order | 143 | 8.99 | 1.55 | 2,100 | 5.98 | 1.03 | 22,100 | 7.21 | 1.24 |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.25 | 0.86 | 136 | 0.39 | 0.33 | 3,786 | 1.23 | 1.04 |
| Shoplifting | 97 | 6.13 | 0.86 | 2,318 | 6.58 | 0.92 | 33,748 | 10.99 | 1.54 |
| Theft From the Person | 3 | 0.18 | 0.43 | 90 | 0.25 | 0.16 | 1,449 | 0.47 | 0.30 |
| Vehicle Crime | 33 | 2.07 | 0.52 | 840 | 2.39 | 0.56 | 11,617 | 3.77 | 0.88 |
| Violence and Sexual Offences | 536 | 33.79 | 1.11 | 9,335 | 26.57 | 0.87 | 104,999 | 34.22 | 1.13 |
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Total Crime by Year
Morpeth | Northumberland | North East | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index | Count | Rate | Index |
| 2026 | 1,131 | 71.22 | 1.06 | 21,875 | 62.20 | 0.86 | 260,600 | 84.89 | 1.18 |
| 2025 | 1,546 | 98.63 | 1.42 | 24,265 | 69.58 | 0.94 | 272,201 | 89.21 | 1.21 |
| 2024 | 1,583 | 101.21 | 1.43 | 25,334 | 73.34 | 0.97 | 285,067 | 94.47 | 1.25 |
| 2023 | 1,417 | 90.78 | 1.21 | 25,006 | 73.07 | 0.92 | 295,603 | 99.04 | 1.25 |
| 2022 | 1,328 | 85.03 | 1.16 | 23,437 | 69.17 | 0.90 | 273,599 | 93.03 | 1.21 |
| 2021 | 1,053 | 67.64 | 1.08 | 22,644 | 67.64 | 0.99 | 250,848 | 85.95 | 1.25 |
| 2020 | 1,133 | 73.06 | 1.06 | 24,180 | 72.67 | 0.98 | 276,026 | 94.68 | 1.28 |
| 2019 | 1,066 | 69.42 | 0.95 | 26,462 | 79.81 | 1.05 | 298,335 | 102.44 | 1.34 |
| 2018 | 1,171 | 75.30 | 1.12 | 26,430 | 79.80 | 1.12 | 280,195 | 96.33 | 1.35 |
| 2017 | 907 | 57.59 | 0.94 | 20,003 | 60.57 | 0.95 | 226,807 | 78.00 | 1.22 |
| 2016 | 232 | 14.68 | 0.81 | 5,686 | 17.27 | 0.91 | 66,798 | 22.96 | 1.20 |
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Morpeth Compared to Nearby Small Towns
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| Small Town | Total Crimes | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alnwick | 858 | 88.74 | 25% more dangerous |
| East Bedlington | 760 | 85.55 | 20% more dangerous |
| West Bedlington | 794 | 75.98 | 7% more dangerous |
| Choppington | 687 | 71.32 | 0.14% more dangerous |
| Morpeth | 1,131 | 71.22 | - |
| Berwick-upon-Tweed | 863 | 65.48 | 8% safer |
| Seaton Valley | 930 | 57.73 | 19% safer |
| Hexham | 691 | 51.97 | 27% safer |
| Prudhoe | 607 | 48.41 | 32% safer |
| Ponteland | 380 | 28.85 | 59% safer |
Comparing Morpeth to the UK's Major Cities
12 Months Ending Apr 2026
| City Name | Crime Rate | Rate Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Morpeth | 71.22 | - |
| Cardiff | 79.55 | 12% more dangerous |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 82.69 | 16% more dangerous |
| Sheffield | 84.09 | 18% more dangerous |
| Leicester | 97.87 | 37% more dangerous |
| Bristol | 104.64 | 47% more dangerous |
| Birmingham | 105.05 | 48% more dangerous |
| Liverpool | 106.48 | 50% more dangerous |
| Leeds | 107.10 | 50% more dangerous |
| Nottingham | 107.74 | 51% more dangerous |
| Westminster | 125.00 | 76% more dangerous |
CrimeRate Pro
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You can find out more, or get a CrimeRate Insights report that includes further analysis.
Offences In and Around Morpeth's Parks & Leisure Spaces
Limited to spaces in Morpeth 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommys Field Allotments | 3 | - | - | - | - | 3 |
| Riverside Leisure Centre | 20 | 8 | 10 | - | 47 | 45 |
| Storey Park | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 |
| Morpeth Leisure and Sports Centre and Library | 7 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 26 | 45 |
| Carlisle Park | 24 | 3 | 8 | - | 30 | 33 |
| Mafeking Park | 11 | - | 3 | - | 7 | 22 |
| The Farquhar Deuchar Park | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | 9 |
Recent Crimes in Morpeth
The 20 most recent crime reports in Morpeth.
| Date | Crime Type | Location | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Lumsden'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Lumsden'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Anti-social behaviour | On or near Lumsden'S Lane | |
| April 2026 | Criminal damage and arson | On or near Cottingvale | |
| April 2026 | Other theft | On or near Parking Area | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near St Aidan'S Crescent | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Balmoral Grove | |
| April 2026 | Public order | On or near Wildfell Close | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Balmoral Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Balmoral Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Balmoral Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Cottingvale | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Balmoral Grove | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court | |
| April 2026 | Violence and sexual offences | On or near Howburn Court |
Methodology & Data Sources
Morpeth 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 Morpeth during July 2026 will typically become available in September 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.
Morpeth Data Points
For Morpeth, CrimeRate uses the geographic boundaries provided by The Office for National Statistics in the December 2023 release of their Parishes and Non Civil Parished Areas dataset, using the PARNCP23CD column value E04010834.
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 Morpeth's daytime - or "workday" - population of 16,733 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 Morpeth