YOUR home and your car are now much safer from criminals - latest Halton police statistics reveal.

Despite an overall rise in crime in the borough over the last 12 months - mainly due to a change in the way incidents are recorded - key areas saw a lot of progress.

New police chief, Supt Dave Booth, told a meeting of Halton police forum that house burglaries were down 16 per cent in the last financial year and vehicle crime showed a 'remarkable decrease', down 21 per cent.

Furthermore, detection rates for house burglaries now stood at 32 per cent - three times as much as it was three years ago according to councillor and forum member, Peter Lloyd Jones.

Violent crime is again up, but Supt Booth said this was down to a new system of recording violent crime which involved logging less serious attacks.

Highlighting recent major investigations, Supt Booth said three prolific sex offenders had received sentences totalling 22 years.

In one investigation, Det Con Richard Kew was commended by chief constable Peter Fahy for his work.

Det Con Kew had to look after witnesses during an horrendous case where a man had raped and abducted vulnerable women in Runcorn and Cumbria.

"At the end of the day a very, very dangerous man is behind bars. The award is nice, but it's not something you expect because this is the kind of work officers do every day," said Det Con Kew.