EIGHTY-FIVE per cent of people living in Herefordshire believe Britain has become a more dangerous place to live in the last 10 years, according to a new survey.

Research carried out on behalf of the charity Crimestoppers Trust, revealed that the majority of county residents, 61 per cent, named burglary, followed by car crime (44 per cent) and mugging (31 per cent) as the crimes they most feared.

The survey highlighted that for almost half of respondents, fear of a revenge attack from the criminal, or his/her associates, would prevent them from reporting a crime.

For 10 per cent of respondents, fear of being branded an informer would be another reason deterring them from reporting crime.

Roy Clark, director of Crimestoppers Trust, said: "The aim of Crimestoppers is to represent those members of the general public that can't, or are too afraid, to contact the police if they have information about a crime.

"Unfortunately, too often the people most vulnerable to crime are the same people who most fear reporting it."

To mark Crimestoppers Week, from September 17 to 21, a national poster and radio advertising campaign will be coming to Hereford. The posters feature a telephone wire acting as handcuffs with the strap-line 'One Call Could Cuff Them'.