and wales represent a 3.8% increase on the previous year. the trade in illegal drugs has increasingly been blamed for rising levels of violence in towns and cities across britain. in the seaside community of rhyl in north wales, research by bbc news shows that violent crime increased for four years before the pandemic, with drug gangs playing a significant part, as our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. they caught three people injecting there the other day. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. shouting. i did not step forward! as covid restrictions ease, there is fear here, as elsewhere, that serious crime will increase. violent crime, for a long time in rhyl, was linked to the night time economy.
off the streets. we stop them having peer pressure. we give them confidence - so they can say no to drugs and things like that. and we try and teach them to be respectful and disciplined. - there s broad agreement that offering these youngsters a future, reducing the harm from drugs and violence, begins by instilling ambition. one of the key ways out of deprivation, for me, is education, to start with people at their youngest. so, we have invested nearly 50 million in the school facilities in rhyl in order that those young people feel that we ve got pride and provide the opportunity for them to reach their potential. the police accept they can t arrest their way out of rhyl s problems. only investment in the root causes of drug addiction and crime, they say, will make a long term difference. michael buchanan, bbc news, rhyl.
showed the country continued to record more drug related deaths than any other country in europe. well, in the seaside community of rhyl in north wales, research by bbc news shows that violent crime increased for four years before the pandemic, with drug gangs playing a significant part, as our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. they caught three people injecting there the other day. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. shouting. i did not step forward! as covid restrictions ease, there is fear here, as elsewhere, that serious crime will increase. violent crime, for a long time in rhyl, was linked to the night time economy. assaults and beatings and stabbings a consequence of drinking too much, often at the weekend.
but in recent years, the nature of violence here has changed dramatically. the town is plagued by so called county lines, gangs from big cities importing violence as they battle for control of the drugs market. when we get rid of one county line, another will pop up. this car chase ended with feuding criminals murdering a local man. the drugs trade killing both users and dealers. these are vulnerable people, they exploit them, they look to get them hooked on drugs, and when they can t pay for them they look to encourage them to commit violence themselves, or deal on their behalf. i hear it all the time around rhyl. drug selling, sometimes stabbings. in rhyl s poorest neighbourhood, this club offers an alternative. self defence, discipline and perhaps, most importantly, resilience. we try and get the youngsters off the streets. we stop them having peer pressure. we give them confidence so they can say no to drugs
for domestic abuse have increased by 40% during the pandemic. it is a major driver of violence in rhyl. i would do anything to look after my family, and so i kind of took on the role of protector. when i see something like that, and that s something that i cannot control, the next best thing is to turn to music. to write a song to help. the song helped betty harper win a recording contract. as ministers turn to tackling crime as part of their efforts to regenerate towns like rhyl they, too, will have to turn negative experiences into positive outcomes. michael buchanan, bbc news, rhyl. back now to the olympics and tomorrow morning team gb s youngest ever summer olympian will be competing. skateboarder sky brown turned 13 just last month she divides her time betweenjapan and the us with herjapanese mum and her british dad. last year she suffered skull