Worst for burglary

Nottingham - 53 (per 1,000) Manchester - 50 Middlesborough - 50 Hull - 47 Salford - 44 Leeds - 44 Bolton - 41 Source: Home Office

Its burglary rate is now the seventh highest in the country at 37 per 1,000 households, and there were more than 4,600 muggings were recorded last year

Yet police in Lambeth have a low, and falling, clean-up rate. They solve fewer robberies than any other area of England and Wales - about one in 20.

This compares with general clear-up rates in London of 15%, and a national figure of 24%.

Witnesses scared

Police in Lambeth say the reluctance of witnesses to get involved is one of the reasons behind their low detection rate.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin told the BBC: "In some cases, a crime will be reported to us and then parents, when they become involved, don't particularly want their child to make a statement in order to support the investigation for fear of what might come out of that.

Many robberies are children stealing mobiles from other children

"We have to work out how we can encourage people to support us in order to see the investigation through."

Teenage boys are to blame for the high robbery rates, the Home Office says, with mobile phone theft said to account for 40% of all robberies in some areas.

Rory Campbell, who runs a Lambeth centre trying to keep teenagers away from crime, says many youngsters have nothing else to offer them hope.

"If they're not in education, they've got no job, and a crack dealer will say to them: 'Sell this for me and I'll give you �200', what option are they going to take?"

Other hotspots

Lambeth's closest rivals for robbery were another London borough, Hackney, with 11 per 1,000 people and Manchester, also with 11.

But its burglary total was beaten by seven other areas, including Nottingham and Manchester.

Manchester also had high robbery and burglary rates

Violent crimes exceeded 30 per 1,000 residents in five London boroughs (Hackney, Islington, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets) and in Blaenau Gwent in Wales.

There were more than 25 violent offences per 1,000 population in Lambeth, and also in Manchester, Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Caerphilly and the London boroughs of Camden, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Hounslow.