UK tourist town residents ‘living in fear’ of knife-wielding ‘dirty dozen’

Residents of a popular UK tourist town are "living in fear" thanks to the town's very own "dirty dozen".

Devizes in Wiltshire is perhaps best-known as a holiday hotspot, but has seen the rates of violent offences grow at an alarming rate since 2018, according to local police.

And cops believe the worrying rise in crime has been caused by just 12 individuals responsible for starting knife fights and committing arson.

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YouTube channel Turdtowns, which ranks different places across the UK, posted a video detailing the historic market town's strange crime problem.

"Some of you may find unusual [for Devizes] to even be featuring on this list because it’s a nice place, and you’d mostly be right to think that," the video explained.

"This year the police here revealed that Devizes has its own dirty dozen.

"They blamed all the crime in the town on just 12 youths. Apparently these 12 youths have been responsible for knife fights in the streets, armed robberies, and arson attacks.

"They're destroying the entire town, and residents are living in fear of these 12 scumbags."

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The clip continued to say Devizes has the worst crime rate in Wiltshire, despite many of the offences allegedly being committed by just a dozen people.

In 2021 Devizes topped the relatively safe county's list for most dangerous towns, followed by Salisbury and Trowbridge, WiltshireLive reported at the time.

And it appears things haven't improved more recently, with policing inspector for Devizes, Ben Huggins, slamming the so-called "dirty dozen" as recently as February.

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Speaking to the Gazette & Herald, he said: "What we have undoubtedly seen over the last two to three months is a significant increase in youth crime and anti-social behaviour within Devizes.

"Concerningly, we are seeing an increase in incidents involving weapons of some description. We’ve had incidents involving weapons on the street and we’ve had incidents where we’ve seen people carrying knives.

"It is concerning because the offending ranges from throwing eggs through to committing serious violent offences, including armed robbery."

The Daily Star has contacted Wiltshire Police for more information.

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