Crime recorded in Shepton Mallet rose during July, with police logging 93 offences and incidents across the town neighbourhood.

That was up from 80 in June, an increase of 13 reports, although July was not the highest month of the past year. The peak was October 2025, when 102 crimes were recorded, followed by 100 in March this year.

The biggest category in July was violence and sexual offences, with 41 reports, representing 44.1 per cent of the month's total.

That police category is broad and can cover offences ranging from assaults and threats of violence to sexual offences. The figures do not show the circumstances or seriousness of each individual report, so they should not be taken to mean all 41 incidents involved serious physical injury.

The second-largest category was anti-social behaviour, with 20 incidents.

Anti-social behaviour can include nuisance, intimidating or threatening conduct and other behaviour causing harassment, alarm or distress. It does not necessarily mean a separate criminal offence was committed in every case.

Police also recorded seven burglaries during July. Burglary generally involves entering a home or other premises as a trespasser with the intention of stealing or committing another specified offence.

There were also seven shoplifting offences, covering theft from shops and retail premises.

Four robberies were recorded, along with four offences categorised as other theft. Robbery differs from ordinary theft because it involves force or the threat of force, while the "other theft" category is used for thefts which do not fall into more specific headings such as shoplifting or theft from the person.

Police logged three criminal damage and arson offences, a category which includes deliberate damage to property as well as deliberately setting property alight.

There were also three public order offences, which can include threatening or abusive behaviour and disorder.

Two vehicle crimes were recorded during the month, covering offences such as theft of or from a vehicle, alongside two thefts from the person, where property is taken directly from somebody without the force or threat involved in robbery.

The outcome figures show that many of July's cases were still active when the data was published.

Of the 93 recorded crimes, 29 were still under investigation, while 25 were listed as cases where police were unable to prosecute a suspect.

Another 18 investigations had been completed without a suspect being identified, one case had been passed to another organisation for action and 20 were recorded under the wider "other" outcome category.

Looking across the previous 12 months, Shepton Mallet recorded 94 crimes in August 2025, 93 in September, 102 in October, 88 in November and 77 in December.

This year, the totals were 88 in January, 73 in February, 100 in March, 97 in April, 90 in May, 80 in June and 93 in July.

The figures relate to crimes and incidents recorded within the Shepton Mallet Town neighbourhood policing area. They do not represent the number of people charged, prosecuted or convicted, and individual crime categories can contain cases of very different circumstances and seriousness.

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