Robbed Copper: The UK's Copper and Lead Theft Hotspots, Revealed

Thefts of building materials such as copper and lead are on the rise in the UK. Earlier this year Openreach’s (BT) network was hit by a string of copper theft attacks, with 3.4km of underground copper cables being stolen and the broadband of over 3,000 homes being disrupted in the process. With the price of copper and lead remaining high, there is a huge opportunity for thieves to make a significant profit from these in-demand materials stolen from homes or public buildings. Two of the most common and sought-after in 2022 include copper and lead.

Copper is used as a building material extensively around the home – in pipes and tubing for moving water as well as heating and cooling systems and even broadband cables. Where you may see it most often, however, is in guttering and downpipes, with a long life span and superb rust resistance.

When it comes to lead, flashing is the most common product, used wherever a roof meets with a vertical plane. This means every chimney, dormer, lean-to, extension, and skylight likely make use of lead flashing. As a result of this, there are many public buildings and homes up and down the country containing significant amounts of this valuable material which, more often than not, are left vulnerable to theft. 

But which areas of the UK have seen the most copper and lead thefts over the past half a decade? We made Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the UK’s 43 police forces to find out, with 28 forces from up and down the country providing us with insights into reported building thefts in their area since 2017.

The Top 50 Towns and Cities with The Most Lead and Copper Thefts

 Of the 28 police forces who responded, 19 were able to share a city-level breakdown of the number of thefts reported since 2017, providing us with reported crime numbers for 860 towns and cities up and down the UK. Having crunched the numbers, we’re now able to reveal the top 50 towns and cities with the most reported building material crimes.

Northern cities and towns dominated the top ten, with nine out of ten of the cities being located in the north of the UK. Sheffield and Preston ranked in joint first position, each with a total of 482 reported copper and lead thefts since 2017. Houghton in Northumbria (439 thefts), Kingston Upon Hull (347 thefts) and Burnley (331 thefts) followed to make up the top five cities with the most lead and copper thefts. Canterbury ranked in 10^th position, the only southern city to make the top ten list, with 238 reported building material crimes.

Twelve cities that fall under Lancashire Constabulary, including Nelson, Blackburn, Accrington and Blackpool, ranked in the top 50 list, while eight from the Kent Police area (including Ashford, Margate and Maidstone) placed in the top 50. Cities and towns governed by the South Yorkshire Police only appeared four times in the top 50 list, however, the four towns that were included (Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield), each reported over 245 total crimes, placing them in the top ten.

Rank	City/town	Police force area	Total reported thefts 2017 - 2022
1	Sheffield	South Yorkshire Police	482
2	Preston	Lancashire Constabulary	482
3	Houghton	Northumbria Police	439
4	Kingston Upon Hull	Humberside Police	347
5	Burnley	Lancashire Constabulary	331
6	Doncaster	South Yorkshire Police	305
7	Rotherham	South Yorkshire Police	287
8	Nelson	Lancashire Constabulary	263
9	Barnsley	South Yorkshire Police	246
10	Canterbury	Kent Police	238
11	Blackburn	Lancashire Constabulary	231
12	Grimsby	Humberside Police	213
13	Accrington	Lancashire Constabulary	166
14	Scunthorpe	Humberside Police	153
15	Colne	Lancashire Constabulary	133
16	Blackpool	Lancashire Constabulary	129
17	Ashford	Kent Police	129
18	Norwich	Norfolk Constabulary	128
19	Lancaster	Lancashire Constabulary	126
20	Lytham St Annes	Lancashire Constabulary	121
21	Dudley	West Midlands Police	116
22	Worksop South	Nottinghamshire Police	108
23	Llanelli	Dyfed-Powys Police	105
24	Margate	Kent Police	104
25	Morecambe	Lancashire Constabulary	102
26	Maidstone	Kent Police	101
27	Sittingbourne	Kent Police	95
28	Sandwell	West Midlands Police	93
29	Sunderland Central	Northumbria Police	85
30	Newport West	Gwent Police	85
31	Sunderland East	Northumbria Police	84
32	Mansfield North	Nottinghamshire Police	84
33	Birmingham West	West Midlands Police	84
34	Rossendale	Lancashire Constabulary	81
35	Worksop North Villages	Nottinghamshire Police	75
36	Newport East	Gwent Police	71
37	Chorley	Lancashire Constabulary	70
38	Monmouthshire	Gwent Police	69
39	Hull	Humberside Police	69
40	Belfast	Police Service of Northern Ireland	69
41	Rochester	Kent Police	68
42	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire Constabulary	67
43	Worksop North	Nottinghamshire Police	65
44	Sevenoaks	Kent Police	64
45	Torfaen	Gwent Police	62
46	Ramsgate	Kent Police	60
47	Jesmond & Heaton	Northumbria Police	59
48	Melton North	Leicestershire Police	58
49	Ashington	Northumbria Police	57
50	Sutton in Ashfield	Nottinghamshire Police	57

The Policing Areas with The Most Reported Lead And Copper Thefts

As not every police force was able to provide us with city-level data, we also looked at the overall police force areas which have seen the most (and least) building material thefts over the past five years. Lancashire Constabulary, which covers a population of almost 1.5 million across cities and towns including Blackpool, Lancaster and Preston, ranked as the area which had seen the most copper and lead thefts since 2017, with over 2,700 reported crimes during this time period.

Following closely behind was Cleveland Police, with a total of 2,459 reported thefts, and Kent Police ranked in third spot with 1,559 reported crimes. Northern areas of the UK dominated the top five areas with the most reported robberies, with Northumbria Police (1,440 thefts) and South Yorkshire Police (1,326 thefts) rounding off the top five.

At the other end of the scale, it was the nation’s capital which had the fewest reported thefts, with only nine reported thefts over the time period in the City of London. North Wales Police also ranked at the bottom of the list, with just 40 reports of thefts spanning cities and towns including Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Wrexham and more.

Copper and lead theft reports (from the 28 police forces that responded to our FOI requests) in 2021 totalled 1,667 overall – down almost 37% from 2020’s total (2,277 reported thefts).

Rank	Police force area	Population covered by police force	Total reported thefts 2017 - 2022
1	Lancashire Constabulary	1,449,300	2,712
2	Cleveland Police	557,000	2,459
3	Kent Police	1,800,000	1,559
4	Northumbria Police	1,500,000	1,440
5	South Yorkshire Police	1,280,000	1,326
6	Humberside Police	920,000	1,309
7	Nottinghamshire Police	1,000,000	1,239
8	Derbyshire Constabulary	1,000,000	865
9	Durham Constabulary	641,000	832
10	Leicestershire Police	1,000,000	766
11	Essex Police	1,800,000	471
12	Gwent Police	598,000	441
13	West Midlands Police	2,800,000	438
14	Norfolk Constabulary	908,000	350
15	Devon and Cornwall Police	1,800,000	336
16	Suffolk Constabulary	678,000	318
17	Cumbria Constabulary	500,000	309
18	Hertfordshire Constabulary	1,200,000	308
19	Cambridgeshire Constabulary	800,000	298
20	Dyfed-Powys Police	515,000	289
21	Sussex Police	1,650,000	273
22	Police Service of Northern Ireland	1,861,000	265
23	Northamptonshire Police	741,000	233
24	Gloucestershire Constabulary	600,000	176
25	Surrey Police	1,100,000	44
26	North Wales Police	703,000	40
27	Cheshire Constabulary	1,100,000	29
28	City of London Police	431,000	9

The Top 10 Areas Which Have Seen the Most Lead and Copper Thefts in 2022

Despite only being a few months into 2022 at the time our Freedom of Information requests were made, many police forces had already received reports of lead and copper thefts in their areas. Kent Police had reported the most copper and lead thefts this year so far, with 42 reported crimes in early 2022.

Further up north, South Yorkshire Police followed in second spot with 36 reported thefts, and Cleveland Police rounded off the top three with 32 reported thefts at the time of response.

Rank	Police force area	Population covered by police force	2022 total reported thefts
1	Kent Police	1,800,000	42
2	South Yorkshire Police	1,280,000	36
3	Cleveland Police	557,000	32
4	Leicestershire Police	1,000,000	21
5	Lancashire Constabulary	1,449,300	20
6	Northumbria Police	1,500,000	18
7	Nottinghamshire Police	1,000,000	17
8	Cambridgeshire Constabulary	800,000	15
9	Suffolk Constabulary	678,000	14
10	Derbyshire Constabulary	1,000,000	11

What Should I Do If Copper, Lead or Other Building Materials Have Been Stolen from My Home?

The first step when you discover you’ve been robbed is always to report it to the police, either by phone or online.  If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to the police directly, another option is to make an anonymous report to independent charities such as Crimestoppers, who will work with the relevant authorities to take action.

Following this, you'll need to determine what impact the missing lead or copper may have on your property. This is as missing lead, particularly if located at an abutment to a wall, could quickly result in water ingress. If left unfixed, this can cause damage that could easily cost thousands of pounds to put right and may also lead to structural issues over time.

Whether you are looking to replace building materials lost by theft, or perhaps you’re looking to stock up on materials ahead of your next guttering or insulation project, we’ve got everything you need to keep you covered.

 

Methodology and sources
All figures relate to thefts of lead and/or copper building materials from a variety of buildings between 2017 and 2022, and were sourced from a Freedom of Information request made to the 43 police forces in the UK. Of those 43 requests, 28 responded with usable data which is featured in this research.