Hampshire police insist crime has dropped amid community fears following woman's abduction in Gosport

The nightmare assault took place on Tuesday afternoon in Station Road, Brockhurst, where a woman in her 20s was bundled into an orange van by a man she didn’t know before being assaulted in a nearby woods.

The terrified victim managed to flee her abuser and was rescued by a passerby, who alerted police, sparking a major response from officers across Gosport.

The attack sent shockwaves across the community, with fearful women telling The News that Station Road had been a hotspot for crime.

Now, Hampshire police has responded and insisted crime rates in the area have declined over the past few years.

The force said it had undertaken its own research into crime rates in the area to try and alleviate people’s fears.

What the figures say

Releasing the figures to The News, a spokesman from Hampshire police said: ‘We want everyone in Gosport to feel safe, to feel confident that they can report their concerns to us, and that they will be listened to.’

The force compared January 2022 with the same period in January 2019, before the Covid pandemic hit.

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Specifically, officers looked at the number of sexual offences, assaults, vehicle crime and anti-social behaviour – issues raised by residents in Brockhurst.

‘We have looked into the number of police reports for these four incident types, in the community outside of the domestic setting, and the data is telling us that we are seeing a reduction in three of these incident types,’ a police spokesman said.

‘Assaults for example have dropped from 31 reports to 23 reports this year, and vehicle crime has reduced from 11 reports to six.

‘The only offence type above that has not seen a reduction in the Brockhurst area is sexual offences – with two sexual offences reported to police this year, and two in the same period in 2019, so the figures have remained the same.’

Police ‘aren’t being complacent’

Chief Inspector Fifi Gulam-Husen, district commander for Fareham and Gosport, said: ‘I am hopeful that the crime reporting picture, based on our data, provides some reassurance and useful context to you about what we are actually seeing as a police force.

‘Please do not think that we are in any way being complacent or trying to invalidate the concerns that have been raised publicly. That is not the case at all. We wholeheartedly understand that people have concerns and we want you to know that we are listening to these.

‘What the data is showing us is that the concerns that we have seen being raised online about our community – some of which reference concerning behaviours and even serious criminal allegations - are not reflected by recent reports to police. Policing is very much intelligence-led so we are urging people to please report any crimes and concerns they may have to us.

‘There had been concern expressed about men loitering in cars in the Brockhurst neighbourhood and picking up teenage girls, girls being harassed in this neighbourhood, youths and homeless people climbing into gardens and incidents of flashing, and I have also seen reference to a rape in a field and a child being assaulted in woodland. As I’ve mentioned, from our research this is not what our recent crime reporting data is showing us.

‘However, I appreciate that much of what has been expressed relates to public feeling, and we’re working really hard with partners to make public spaces safer for all so that you feel safe in your local area.’

Chief Insp Gulam-Husen insisted the force was doing all it could to keep people safe and insisted tackling violence against women was a ‘local priority’.

In an appeal to the public, the top officer added that people should always report crime to police so the force could respond effectively.

Call 101 to report crimes or 999 in the case of an emergency.

Other concerns can also be reported with the StreetSafe tool at https://orlo.uk/nyTeC