BRITAIN's "most beautiful" beach paradise has become a terrifying "badlands" with 100 reports of rape and 300 knife crimes every year.
The golden sands of Bournemouth's award-winning beach welcome more than 3.5million visitors every summer.
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Away from its iconic beach, from at least the outside, the Dorset town boasts traditional high street with independent shops and pubs offering idyllic sea views.
But a recent spate of sex assaults and fatal knife attacks has left the seaside resort reeling.
Amie Gray, 34, was stabbed to death in a horror attack on Durley Chine Beach at 11.42pm on May 24.
A second womanwas also taken tohospitalafter sustaining serious injuries and has since been discharged.
The double stabbing has shocked the country, with police arresting a man on suspicion of murder last week.
It follows the heinous case of Benjamin Lee Atkins, who was last month convicted of murdering, decapitating and dismembering his lodger in the town - before boasting about eating his cheeks.
Last summer, teenager Cameron Hamilton was knifed to death in the early hours of the morning.
Knife-obsessed asylum seeker Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, was also last year jailed for stabbing to death aspiring Royal Marine Tom Roberts outside a takeaway in the town.
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Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show Dorset Police recorded 328 knife offences in the year ending December 2023.
That is up from 146 recorded by the force from April 2013 to March 2014.
Personal trainer, 34, killed in Bournemouth beach stabbing was ‘loving mum’ – as her wife & daughter pay tribute
In Bournemouth specifically, 119 knife incidents have been recorded so far this year ahead of the busy summer period - with 296 recorded last year and 288 in 2022.
These crimes include a range of incidents such as: proactive stop searches in which a knife was located on an individual, aggravated burglary, robberies where a knife was used, in addition to assaults and stabbings.
Across the whole of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in last 12 months there were 29 stabbing incidents with knives or a sharply pointed article and four of these were within Bournemouth town centre.
The vast majority of these stabbing incidents involved individuals who were known to each other.
But knife crime is not the only issue plaguing the town.
Residents have drawn comparisons to the Wild West after an alarming increase in sexual assaults.
Knife Flagged Crime in Bournemouth
THE statistics used are from the below data and relate to crimes that have been recorded with a knife flag and involve a wide range of offences.
2022 - 288
2023 - 296
2024 - 199
In one of the most troubling cases last summer, two girls aged 10 and 11 claimed they wereindecently assaultedas they swam in the sea near to the pier.
Gabriel Marinoaica, 20, was jailed for six years and six months in April after he was found guilty of pulling a then 15-year-old girl out of her depth and raping her in the sea.
Dorset Police has also charged a man with two counts of rape and sexual assault after receiving reports from two teenage girls in separate incidents around Bournemouth Oceanarium on Sunday, May 19.
Away from the beach, a man has this week been charged with the sexual assault of a woman at the Bar So nightclub in Bournemouth town centre.
More than 100 reports of rape were made to police in Bournemouth town centre last year, along with a further 97 in the district of Bournemouth North and 91 in Bournemouth East.
Gabrielle Johnson, who has ateenagedaughter, told The Sun last summer: "I do worry because you don't know who is looking at you.
"I don't let her go to thebeachby herself, she normally goes with a friend and her mum. I'm lucky she is quite sensible.
"But I do think it would be good if the police were around more. I don't know how else we can stop that happening."
Homelessness, drugs and drunken violence: Residents no longer feel safe in deteriorating beach town
Locals in a seaside town where a woman was fatally stabbed on the beach and another was seriously hurt say they no longer feel safe at night.
Amie Gray, a 34-year-old football coach, was killed and Leanne Miles, 38, was seriously injured in the attack on Bournemouth beach just before midnight on May 24.
The genteel seaside resort in Dorset, once popular with young families and elderly couples looking for a break on the coast, has more recently been likened to the 'Wild West' after a rise in stabbings, sexual assaults and antisocial behaviour.
Those living in the town say it has deteriorated in recent years as problems with homelessness, drugs and drunken violence has risen and people do not feel safe going out after dark.
Some have moved out of Bournemouth to safer areas, while others say they avoid the town centre and beaches at night, when crime seems to escalate.
Many blamed a lack of police presence and a lack of investment and shops closing down for the town's demise.
Nicola Childs Ford, 22, a make up student at Arts University Bournemouth, said: "It is definitely getting worse.
"I lived in Bournemouth last year, but this year my partner and I moved out to Poole because it's much safer.
"In Southampton there are certain parks you avoid but in Bournemouth it feels like the whole area should be avoided, especially around the square itself.
"One of my friends was bottled by a group of teenagers just for being in the Square. Thankfully they were with a big group of people so the group scared them off but I could have ended up a lot worse.
"Crime increases in low income areas and I think Bournemouth is becoming a low income area now. That frustration manifests in crime.
"The town centre is a lot more run down and all the shops are closing down so there's less for young people to do and I think people feel let down.
"I think the council focus on it as a tourist attraction but that makes locals feel less safe because you have people coming in from elsewhere who don't care about the area and don't respect it because they don't live here.
"In the summer lots of people get drunk on the beach and then get more aggressive, there's more confrontation."
Kevin Nichols, 72, who lives near where the murder happened, said: "Bournemouth is getting worse, it's a neglected town now. There is no town centre anymore and they don't police the place properly until after an incident like this happens.
"There's been several stabbings in the area and we supposedly have all these CCTV cameras but it doesn't seem to help. The demise of Bournemouth is a real concern. There's a lack of investment.
"I live up on the West Cliff and go out running every morning and I'll see drug dealings up there, rough sleepers, they get brought into Bournemouth from other council areas.
"Wherever you walk in the town you smell pot and there's aggressive begging. Nobody cares anymore and it's such a shame. It used to be a fantastic resort and town.
"My wife doesn't like going out at night anymore. We've just come back from Spain, she'd happily walk around there after midnight but here she wouldn't dream of it."
Photographer Elena White, 38, said: "I've lived in Bournemouth for 13 years and it didn't used to be like this, it's definitely got worse in the last couple years.
"I wouldn't go out at night anymore. There's been quite a few stabbings, there's a lot of incidents of migrants attacking people, especially in the summer, people coming from London and other places and causing problems with anti-social behaviour on the beach.
"I think they should have some sort of nightwatch, there's no one patrolling the beaches.
"The square is bad in the evenings, all the homeless people gather there. I think that has gotten worse since all the shops started closing down so that's since Covid.
"You'll see gangs, fights and drugs. And there's been quite a lot of rapes around the Horseshoe Common. It's such a shame but it's all gone downhill."
The offences detailed within this FOI data involved male and female victims, both within homes, business premises and other locations and a small number reported to have occurred in public spaces.
They also include offences where the suspect and victim were known to each other, as well as non-recent reports relating to offences that could have occurred many years ago but were reported during that time frame.
The spate of horrific knife attacks and sexual assaults adds to a worrying number of boarded up shops and businesses in the town.
House of Fraser, Debenhams and a Marks & Spencer are among the casualties in recent years.
Prestigious and once-thriving hotels such as Bay View Court, Cottonwood and Ocean View have also shut down despite their premium locations.
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A study last year found there were more than 40 empty shop units in the town centre, with residents complaining of the town having become rundown in recent years.
More than 80 businesses in the town have now joined a new Against Business Crime Partnership nlaunched earlier this year.
The campaign was launched "in response to rising levels of theft, verbal and physical abuse and anti-social behaviour".
It comes after Bournemouth Council leader Vikki Slade admitted last month to witnessing a drug deal as she walked through the town centre with local MP Sir Conor Burns.
She told the Bournemouth Echo: "We were in the Square saying goodbye, there were a couple of street drinkers, and then we witnessed what appears to be a very visible drug deal."
The rising crime at UK's most popular beach
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show Dorset Police recorded 328 knife offences in the year ending December 2023.
That is up from the 146 recorded by the force from April 2013 to March 2014.
In Bournemouth specifically, 119 knife incidents have been recorded so far this year ahead of the busy summer period - with 296 recorded last year and 288 in 2022.
But knife crime is not the only issue plaguing the town.
More than 100 reports of rape were made to police in Bournemouth town centre last year, along with a further 97 in the district of Bournemouth North and 91 in Bournemouth East.
It comes as a study last year found there were more than 40 empty shop units in the town centre, with residents complaining of the town having become rundown in recent years.
More than 80 businesses in the town have now joined a new Against Business Crime Partnership nlaunched earlier this year.
The campaign was launched "in response to rising levels of theft, verbal and physical abuse and anti-social behaviour".
Mr Burns added: "We've got to be really clear - council, business, community can do so much, but the police are central to the town. It's time for some straight talking."
Meanwhile, following the death of Ms Gray last month, Dorset Police has stated there will be "enhanced" patrols over the weekend and going forward.
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Assistant Chief Constable Steve Lyne said: "I would like to thank our communities in and around Bournemouth for their support and patience through what I know will have been an unsettling week for many."
He added: "Hopefully, Dorset Police has struck that balance to maintain public confidence as much as possible, accepting there is still significant work to be done with partners across the town to ensure public safety is maintained as a paramount concern."
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