Andrew says the project has helped him avoid crime

The number of house break-ins in Worksop fell by 76% in the past year.

Det Sgt Lawson Main, of Notts Police, said the Sherwood Project provides job training and drug rehabilitation to the town's worst offenders.

About 200 drug addicts in the town are on treatment to help them kick their habit, he said.

Bassetlaw MP John Mann, who has campaigned for drug treatment for addicts in the area, is calling for the strategy to be adopted across the country.

One in 45 homes in the East Midlands is burgled every year with half of the crimes committed by drug addicts, police say.

I wanted to move away from drugs and crime - so when this chance came I took it Andrew, former addict

Former Worksop drug addict Andrew, who took drugs for 13 years, said: "It would start with me looking for �5 and then I would take it from there."

"I wanted to move away from drugs and crime - so when this chance came I took it."

He is given regular methadone prescriptions to help him avoid relapsing into drug abuse.

Det Sgt Main said: "It has turned the whole thing on its head, instead of knocking down doors and arresting people we are knocking on doors and offering help.

"We are breaking the cycle of offending and we have less victims."

The prolific offender scheme is being trialled in Worksop and Leicester as well as other locations across the country, he said.

Offenders who are treated on the scheme are sent back to prison if they re-offend.