Domestic crime on a housing estate has rocketed by 40 per cent in the last two weeks, according to police figures.

The large increase in the number of incidents of domestic violence on the Whitehawk Estate in Brighton may be down to people being more willing to report such crimes following the recent creation of an anti-victimisation unit covering the area.

Crime on the estate has been dropping steadily since the introduction of the New Deal scheme a year ago. It plans to pump £42 million into the estate during the next nine years to reduce crime and improve the education, health and lives generally of the people on the estate.

Inspector Paul Smith, of Brighton police, told the monthly meeting of the Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum yesterday: "Burglary is down, car crime is down, the only thing which is up is domestic violence. It's up by 40 per cent in the last two weeks and we need to figure out why.

"Maybe with the launch of the anti-victimisation unit, more people are reporting it. We're talking about an increase of 15 per cent in the last week."

Mr Smith also met the unit yesterday morning to discuss the problem.

He added: "The figures make it the hot spot in the division for domestic violence but we do need to keep it in perspective."