A Middlesbrough councillor has warned that his town has “fallen to the criminals” as it battles an increasingly “horrendous” crime wave.
Luke Mason, a Conservative member of Middlesbrough Council, said residents were facing rising levels of violence, knife crime, shoplifting and other offences, with the situation now having “spiralled out of control”.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Mason said the scale of the problem meant recent shocking incidents in the town were “not entirely unsurprising”.
“Things are pretty grim in Middlesbrough at the moment,” he said.
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“Although shocking as they are, as any incident like that is across the country, when we do see it, it’s not entirely unsurprising.”
In recent days, the Yorkshire town has been gripped by a wave of crime following the death of seven people, including two police officers, in last week’s A66 crash.
More than 200 extra officers have been drafted in from other branches to help Cleveland Police crack down on suspected organised crime.
Despite the reinforcements, Mr Mason said the reality remained “bad on the ground” in Middlesbrough.
“We’re seeing huge numbers of various crimes being committed.”
“I think the situation has now spiralled out of control,” Mr Mason said, adding: “I don’t think it would be too far of a stretch to say Middlesbrough has fallen.”
“In a sense, it has fallen to the criminals,” he conceded.
“Middlesbrough now has the worst crime rate, in terms of its relative to its population, anywhere in England,” the councillor continued.
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“And it’s not entirely surprising that something like this has happened here.”
Detailing the scale of lawlessness, Mr Mason said residents were facing more serious and unpredictable offences.
“We’re seeing increasing numbers of people driving cars through people’s front rooms into living rooms,” he said.
“We’re seeing increasing levels of shop theft, we’re seeing increasing knife crime, and things really are quite horrendous at the moment.”
“Honestly, I’m not quite sure where we go from here,” he said.
“I think there’s a real possibility that things do get worse before they get better.”
Speaking on his own feelings of safety, the councillor revealed he and his friends would be avoiding the town centre despite previous plans to watch Middlesbrough FC’s home clash with West Brom.
“We’ll be going out elsewhere,” he despaired.
“If men going to football are changing their behaviour because they don’t feel safe in central Middlesbrough, imagine how the women and children are feeling.”
Explaining that the current crisis resulted from a “build-up” of criminality, the councillor pledged to challenge the current policing leadership formally.
“At the next full council meeting, the next Middlesbrough full council meeting, I’ll be putting forward a motion that expresses my concern about a lack of confidence in the current police and crime commissioner for the area.
“I believe he should now resign due to the recent events, but also the wider context that surrounds those as well,” Mr Mason said.
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