AN error by statisticians wrongly labelled a town a crime blackspot, it was revealed today.

Burgess Hill was dubbed the burglary capital of Mid Sussex after the publication of a hard-hitting report on crime in the county.

The figures showed home owners in the town were more than twice as likely to be burgled than anywhere else in Mid Sussex.

Their publication, a legal requirement under the Crime and Disorder Act, sparked fury among councillors angry the town had been slighted.

Now the correct figures show the town has a lower burglary rate than most others in the district after all.

Coun Malcolm Stephens, chairman of Burgess Hill Town Council, said: "We always knew Burgess Hill was a safe place to live. It just goes to show that all statistics need to be approached with caution."

The document, Review of Crime and Disorder in the Mid Sussex District, was published jointly by Mid Sussex District Council, West Sussex County Council and Sussex Police.

Both councils blamed police for the statistics mix-up. But Supt John Dransfield, head of the Mid Sussex force, said: "We've always recognised that because of the speed with which we had to compile the report there were bound to be some errors."

He explained the high figure of about nine burglaries per 1,000 homes was wrong because business burglaries had been included.

The real number is about four per 1,000 homes.

The mistake was spotted by Insp Geoff Thomas, who realised the figures did not tally with his own experience of crime in the area.

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