Is our town the murder capital of the north west?
3:12pm Friday 11th April 2008
GLANCING at the pages of the Warrington Guardian in the past six months you could be forgiven for thinking Warrington was the murder capital of the north west.
Four high profile deaths since August have shocked the town.
But is Warrington any different to anywhere else in the region?
We asked police forces for the number of murders, manslaughters and unresolved violent deaths in towns of a similar size in the past three years.
Cheshire Police say there have been 11 cases here, two in Macclesfield and none in Crewe and Nantwich.
Lancashire Police told us that Blackpool has had 13 cases - the highest figure - Preston six, Lancaster three and Blackburn one.
Merseyside Police admitted that St Helens has also had 11 violent crimes leading to death.
It appears Warrington is by no means worse than its counterparts.
That is the message coming from Superintendent Gary Finchett, one of the men in charge of policing in Warrington, and Detective Superintendent Richard Strachan, who runs the force major incident team (FMIT) and investigates every murder and manslaughter case in the county.
Det Supt Strachan said: "Warrington has always been higher in terms of these type of crimes than other areas in Cheshire.
"With almost a quarter of the population of Cheshire, you would expect that, but that doesn't mean people are more likely to be a victim of these types of crimes because of the high number of people."
DS Strachan says FMIT has an exceptionally strong' detection record of 100 per cent in the past three years compared to the national average of 91 per cent.
He says some cases are cleared up with nobody being charged, for example when somebody murders a partner and commits suicide.
Det Supt Strachan said: "Just because we have had 11 murders does not mean we have had 11 homicidal murderers running around the town. Many of these are the sad consequence of violence against a person that police officers deal with on a daily basis.
"Our point in particular is for young people to take a deep breath and think about it.
"Mix alcohol in and if you start engaging in violence with other people you are putting them at risk of death and yourself at risk of spending the rest of your young or early adulthood in prison."
Supt Finchett added: "The tragedy of some of these cases for me is also what happens to the offenders. Some of these are just adults - these are young lives taking young lives and lives are destroyed on both sides."
Det Supt Strachan believes the town's murder rate often depends on pure chance.
He said: "These rates do go up and down. The border between serious assault and murder is often very fragile.
"We do our best to prevent serious violence. Our ultimate objective is to reduce cases of homicide.
"The most effective way to do that is making sure communication is right between us and the public. But when these things do happen expert resources will be deployed.
"Fists and feet are the most lethal weapons out there.
"We do not have a problem here with gun crime and in only one of these town centre attacks a weapon was used.
"If you kick somebody in the head there is a risk of homicide or death. If you punch somebody in the head there is the risk of death.
"The difference between serious assault and murder is luck. It is a total gamble."
Supt Finchett added: "When you look at reported crime it is down and when you see we are arresting 1,000 people a month, you see that Warrington is safe - even though these high profile cases get a lot of attention. We have said many times this is not just a policing issue it is a social issue.
"How many police officers would it take to prevent every murder? There has to be a question of personal responsibility."