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An official campaign is under way in Southampton to tell the south coast citizens that crime there is much lower than they think. Overall crime fell by more than a tenth last year, and violent incidents in the city centre at night time plummeted by nearly a third. The city dwellers are tending to think otherwise, therefore police and council chiefs in tackling the fear of crime are getting their message across that the city is safer, using an advertising campaign.

Defence counsel at Exeter Crown Court Warren Robinson said his client had never intended to harm Devon petrol station cashier Stevie Harper in a robbery attempt. He explained the use of a stone in the crime by David Fairbairn, who was caught on CCTV. "It was not a sophisticated crime," said Mr Robinson. "He was on CCTV but did not attempt to disguise himself during the robbery.

The Government is embarking on its own ‘clampdown’ – it has announced that wheel clamping on private land will be banned in England and Wales. It hopes the legislation will be introduced during the winter. Once it is in place, anyone who clamps a vehicle or tows it away on private land will face tough penalties. The ban will also apply to towing away and all other forms of vehicle immobilisation.

Police and insurance assessors are continuing to add up the cost of the haul snatched from De Beers in the Royal Exchange shopping arcade in the City of London. Jewels to the value of several million pounds were stolen in a matter of minutes by a gang. One source said thieves 'cleaned out' the exclusive store. It is understood the shopping courtyard was protected only by wrought iron gates joined by a chain and padlock more suitable for securing bicycles.

A criminal who fled from both court and open prison has had 21 months added to his sentence, which already numbered 14 and a half years for armed robbery. The prison service said it was investigating why he was deemed minimum risk. Following a "rigorous assessment", the prison service said David Patmore was placed in Sudbury Open Prison in Derbyshire, from which he absconded and then recaptured.

Campaign group the Criminal Justice Alliance agreed that crime had been falling in recent years but said many offences were not reported. Jon Collins, the CJA's campaign director, said that a recent overview of crime trends was accurate, adding it was a sign “that the recession has not yet led to the predicted rise in crime.

A sanitation worker received a shock when she serviced a portable toilet, finding what looked like a home-made bomb. The worker made the discovery about 9am at a Tacoma Public Utilities transfer station in America. Police set up a safety zone and evacuated a handful of nearby business and a small apartment complex before disabling the device. Detectives were following up to see where the explosive came from and how long it had been in the toilet.

Critics have suggested that a new cost-cutting proposal to present voluntary redundancy terms to police officers is unfairly targeting those who have been injured in the line of duty. And some fear it could force injured officers, scared of losing their jobs, back on to the streets before they are ready.

Theft incidents from British Telecom sites rose almost ten per cent last year owing to the demand for copper, meaning that the BT wiring network was highly prized by criminal gangs. BT's Openreach Division fought back by employing SmartWater, a clear solution which forensically tags thieves’ skin, therefor the police can easily trace them.

Furious shoppers have hit out at fees introduced at a town centre car park. Beginning last month, people using the Bay View centre car park in Wales had to pay to use the upper short-stay car park for more than two hours, or the long-stay car park for more than three hours. The Colwyn Bay shoppers say this is a ‘double whammy’ with the parking restrictions that were put in place by the council in February this year, so they may now head out of the town centre.

The cost to society of crime on public transport reaches more than a billion pounds per year, according to the latest government figures. On rail, light rail and London Underground alone the total cost of crime amounted to £925million. British Transport Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Crowther said crime on the rail network had been reduced by 20% since the report was completed.

London, Burnley and Manchester head the chart of the top ten areas affected most by burglary in the UK. London has 46.35 burglaries per 1000 people, a statistic which is almost double that of runner-up Burnley, which has 24.63, while Manchester has 23.76. The rest of the top ten by local authority is: Nottingham, Bristol, Reading, Leeds, North East Lincolnshire, Ashfield, and in tenth position Kingston upon Hull.