New figures reveal city-centre problem

But the statistics, released today by the Home Office, show the district as a whole fared well in national comparisons.

The figures set out offences reported to police divisions taking part in local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partner-ships. The six categories of crime under the spotlight are violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, domestic burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and theft from a motor vehicle.

In terms of crimes per 1,000 population, Bradford Central - which includes the city centre area - fared badly in all categories apart from domestic burglary.

The division recorded 36.6 violent crimes per 1,000 population between October 1999 and September 2000 - second only to Millgarth in Leeds (38.7) and almost five times the figure for Eccleshill (7.5).

It was the worst performing of West Yorkshire's 17 police divisions for sexual offences at 4.6 per 1,000 population.

Millgarth, which covers Leeds city centre, and Bradford Central also topped the robbery list with 15.9 and 7.2 offences per 1,000 respectively.

And Bradford Central was one of the worst performing areas for car crime, coming second only to Millgarth.

Of the five Bradford policing divisions Keighley had the best performance in all categories except violence - where Eccleshill had fewer.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Baker, of Keighley CID, said: "We are very pleased with the results and are continuing to target priority areas.

"These successes have been achieved by working in partnership with other agencies."

The Home Office figures analysed performance in the Bradford district as part of a group of 12 similar sized Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership areas.

Bradford's group includes Birmingham, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.

The district was in the top seven best performing areas for all categories of crime and was ranked second only to Sheffield for low robbery rates.