Crime in Cheshire has risen higher than anywhere else in the country, new figures reveal.

Cheshire Police, which cover Macclesfield, recorded 71,342 crimes in the year July 2016 to June 2017 - 34 percent more than during the previous year.

Out of all 43 forces in England and Wales, only Greater Manchester (31pc) and Durham (32pc) recorded spikes that were close to that level.

The average rise of overall crime nationally is 14pc.

Police chiefs explain the rise on changes to the way it records violent crimes which went up by a 41 percent to 20,285.

They said anti-social behaviour offences are now recorded as a public order offences which are categorised as a violent crime.

Public order offences were up by 231 percent to 12,039 in the year to June.

However, there were also large spikes in stalking and harassment (184pc), violence without injury (36pc), robbery (16pc) and violence with injury (15pc).

Police believed the rise in reported sex offences (up 27pc) is because victims are more confident coming forward, especially in relation to historical crimes.

Overall theft offences were up by nine percent including bike theft (up 18pc), shoplifting (25pc) and vehicle thefts (six percent). There were also increases in criminal damage and possession of weapons which were both up by 15pc.

The only good news for Cheshire Police is overall burglary dropped by four pc but a breakdown of these figures reveals non-domestic burglary was down 19pc while house burglaries were up 18pc.

Other drops include drug offences, down 10 pc, and thefts from the person, 26pc.

Deputy Chief Constable Darren Martland said the increase was disappointing.

He said: “This rise does need to be put into context. Changes were introduced nationally to ensure consistency in how crimes are recorded.

“To meet the standards we have introduced dedicated staff to ensure crimes are recorded and categorised accurately. For example incidents of disorder in a public area may have been categorised previously as anti-social behaviour rather than as a crime, and this new way of recording is being reflected in our data – hence the increase.”