Crime in Winchester district: statistics, rates and trends

Violence and sexual offences (3,257), anti-social behaviour (885) and other theft (755) made up 58% of all recorded crime. Its crime rate ranks 250th of the 302 districts covered by this site (1 = highest), in the lowest quarter.

Recorded crime in Winchester district peaked in the year to August 2022 (9,937 crimes) and was lowest in the year to August 2025 (8,196). Between the years to August 2018 and 2026 it was almost unchanged, while across England and Wales it fell 4%.

Month by month

No category with at least 20 crimes was notably above the England and Wales rate, and theft from the person (83% below) and robbery (75% below) were well below it. On the year before, robbery rose from 32 to 46 and shoplifting rose from 541 to 725, while possession of weapons fell from 103 to 79 and vehicle crime fell from 397 to 307.

What each category covers: crime categories.

7,570 crimes, excluding fraud, were recorded by the police in Winchester district in the year ending March 2026, according to the Home Office's police recorded crime statistics. That is 55.8 per 1,000 residents, lower than the England and Wales rate of 83.2. The total was up 3% on the year ending March 2025 (7,350), against a fall of 2% across England and Wales. Among the 272 districts of England and Wales with a figure for that year, Winchester district had the 64th lowest rate (the street-level ranking above is among the 302 districts with street-level pages on this site, over the 12 months to August 2026).

Of the crimes recorded in the Hampshire Police area in the year ending March 2026, 2.2% were not assigned to a district. Those crimes are counted in the force and England and Wales totals but in no district, so the figure for Winchester district is an undercount.

Offences recorded in Winchester district, the year ending March 2026

The largest category was violence without injury, with 1,060 offences (14% of the total). Relative to England and Wales, rates were highest for death or serious injury caused by unlawful driving (4.7 times the national rate). Rates were lowest relative to the national rate for robbery of personal property (0.27 times), theft from the person (0.28 times) and bicycle theft (0.40 times).

The largest rises on the year were in robbery of personal property (+57%) and possession of drugs (+41%). The largest falls were in residential burglary (−26%) and vehicle offences (−24%). Robbery of business property and shoplifting are not compared with the year ending March 2025: from April 2025 the Home Office Counting Rules were clarified so that a theft from a shop in which violence is used or threatened against staff or anyone else is recorded as robbery of business property rather than shoplifting (ONS).

Recorded crime in Winchester district since the year ending March 2021

The chart shows police recorded crime per 1,000 residents in each year ending March from 2021 to 2026. Winchester district's rate was below the England and Wales rate in every one of those 6 years. The series starts in the year ending March 2021 because the share of crimes in the Hampshire Police area not assigned to a district moved from 1.5% in the year ending March 2020 to 2.6% in the year ending March 2021, which changes district totals without any change in crime.

Changes in how forces record crime move these figures as well as changes in crime (methodology).

Districts in the Hampshire Police area, the year ending March 2026

Of the 11 districts in the Hampshire Police area with a figure for the year ending March 2026, Winchester district had the 6th highest rate. Basingstoke and Deane, Hart and Rushmoor are not in the table because the Home Office publishes each of them jointly with a neighbouring district, as one community safety partnership.

Source: Home Office police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables (released 23 July 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. Financial years, excluding fraud; how they differ from the street-level figures: methodology.

5 of the 8 nearest districts have a higher crime rate than Winchester district; the highest is Southampton district (133.7 per 1,000) and the lowest East Hampshire (47.3).

Of the 34 areas within Winchester district, St Michael had the highest crime rate (175.7 per 1,000) and Waltham Chase the lowest (20.0), 9 times apart.

The 10 locations below account for 23% of the crime recorded in Winchester district over the 12 months to August 2026; the most were recorded at “Shopping Area” (336).

Of the 7,503 crimes in Winchester district with a recorded outcome, 33% ended with the investigation complete and no suspect identified, against 35% across England and Wales; 5.9% were awaiting a court outcome (England and Wales: 5.2%). The 885 anti-social behaviour reports have no outcome and are left out.

Winchester district has an estimated population of 135,632 (ONS, mid-2024). Compared with England and Wales it has fewer households without a car (14%, against 23%), fewer residents with no qualifications (11%, against 18%) and more residents with Level 4 qualifications or above (45%, against 34%). On the England IoD 2025, the small areas (LSOAs) that make up Winchester district average decile 8.0 (1 = most deprived), less deprived than average.

Police-recorded crime from data.police.uk (September 2017 to August 2026), ONS population estimates and Census 2021. Definitions and limitations: methodology.