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Balaclava-clad children as young as eleven are forcing lifelong residents of a UK town to avoid the area over fears of crime. Crawley in West Sussex tops the leaderboard across a wide range of statistics in the South East, with violent crime, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting significantly above the local and national averages.

The brazenness of criminals, some of whom are yet to reach their teenage years, has left some residents fearful of entering the town centre, preferring to shop online or in neighbouring towns out of fear for their safety. Angela Spree, 67, who lives in nearby Ifield, told the Daily Express how children no taller than five feet, can be regularly seen riding their bikes and being anti-social while covering their faces. She said: "I avoid it as much as possible. I have lived here all my life and it has declined beyond recognition.

"You see kids as young as 11 on bikes in balaclavas just brazenly intimidating people on the street.

"We even had a murder near me last year.

"You never see a bobby on the beat anymore. We have a Tesco Express near me and the other day I saw a woman go in there, fill her bag and walk out. It's all women who work in there, so what are they going to do?"

Ms Spree is one of nearly a dozen people who told the Daily Express they felt unsafe in the town, as she called for more to be done to help young people avoid crime.

She added: "Government needs to do more, the local council needs to do more. There is nothing for the kids to do, so they end up getting in trouble."

Crimerate.co.uk, which uses police force data to build pictures of crime across the UK, ranks Crawley as the most dangerous major town in West Sussex, with crime 18% higher than the national average.

It found that the overall crime rate in Crawley in 2026 is 85 crimes per 1,000 people, 51% higher than the county average.

One street alone, Cross Keys, accounted for more than 500 crimes last year, an average of around 13 per month.

However, according to locals, the epicentre of the town's crime is Memorial Gardens, a local hangout for young people, sitting in the shadow of the local shopping centre.

A woman in her early 60s who works in a fashion store in the town, and wishes to remain anonymous, told of her worries for colleagues who have no choice but to walk to and from work.

She said: "I avoid the high street, there is nothing there anymore, it's all gone. I come, I go to work and I drive home.

"But girls I work with have to walk home and they hate it. I'm a foreigner myself, so it is hard for me to say, but the amount of (asylum) hotels here is scary for women, especially at night when they are predominantly all men.

"I feel bad saying it but the other day I was walking towards five men from one of the hotels and I turned around because I didn't want to walk towards them. Whether that is right or not, I don't know, but it's how I felt."

Chief Inspector Steve Turner said: "As Crawley District Commander, I understand that feeling safe is just as important as being safe. While our crime data shows that crime levels in the Memorial Gardens remain low, we recognise that perception matters to the community.