Children among victims as robbery offences show significant rise

Dale Spridgeon, Local Democracy Reporter

A “marked increase” in robberies in a north Wales county includes cases of children having their mobile phones taken.

During a Cyngor Gwynedd communities scrutiny committee meeting held on Thursday, March 19, councillors were told there had been a “small but marked” rise in robbery offences in the county.

Crime data showed there had been 34 incidents of robbery for the period April 1 – December 31, 2025/26, as compared to 16 in the same months, for 2024/25.

This represented a 112.5% rise in robbery offences in the county, as compared to the 12.4% increase recorded for north Wales.

Whilst the report stated that robbery volumes were considered “only small” there had been “a marked increase” so far for 2025/26.
“Analysis of these offences shows increases in some wards within Bangor, most notably Deiniolen, Menai (Bangor),” the report stated.

“The data shows no clear patterns to the offences, with no repeat suspects.

“In total, 24 individuals have been linked as a suspect, or have been arrested or charged in connection with 17 of the offences.”
With regard to the recent rise in “robbery clusters” in Gwynedd, North Wales Police Chief Inspector Stephen Pawson said:

“Unfortunately, there has been no pattern to the robberies and they have been across a number of different wards.

“They have featured different victims, they have featured individuals that have been fuelled by alcohol or drugs.

“On occasions, we have had individuals that have fallen out with neighbours or we have had children who have been victims of having their mobile phones taken.

“It’s been very sporadic. But we do give focus to robbery, given it is a serious crime, and it is subject to quite rigorous governance.

“I can assure, in the majority of cases, they have led to suspects being arrested or charged.”

Among the data was also figures for acquisitive crime, which included the categories of burglary; residential, burglary; business & community, robbery, vehicle crime and theft & handling.

Both burglary residential and burglary – business & community offences had seen reductions this year, as compared to last year, whilst the volumes of vehicle crime and theft & handling had seen slight increases.

Rising

A rise had been seen in ‘violence without injury’ category, which went up from 1179 up to 1293 incidents – a percentage rise of 9.7%, compared to the lower north Wales figure of 4.0%.

All victim based crime went up in the county, from 6419 incidents to 6648, a 3.6% rise for the county, as compared to the 0.6% change for north Wales.

Domestic incidents (non crime) also went up from 683 incidents to 758, by 11%, slightly lower than the north Wales percentage change of 15%.

Sexual offences in Gwynedd had however seen a small decrease to -1.5%, in comparison to 2024/25, although it was noted that there could be “significant fluctuations” in reported offences week to week, partly due to reporting of historic offences.

The decrease in Gwynedd was however “contrary to the picture” of the volumes of sexual offences occurring in north Wales, in 2025/26, where a 5.8% increase was seen overall.

A slight increase of 2.9%, in the year-to-date volume of criminal damage and arson offences had been seen so far in Gwynedd, compared to 2024/25. This differed to the picture across north Wales as a whole, where a decrease has been seen of -6.3%.