CRIME at Hampshire's biggest festival fell to its lowest point in years, police figures have revealed. 

Hampshire Constabulary said there were 98 offences committed at this year's Boomtown Fair, which took place between August 10-14 at the Matterley Estate near Winchester.

While the event hasn't been held since 2019, the figure marks a sizeable decrease on the 121 crimes recorded at the last edition before the pandemic hit. Similarly, the number is also lower than 2017 and 2016, at 127 and 176 respectively.

Attendance remained roughly the same, with Boomtown welcoming 66,000 people for an extended weekend of partying this year - just 1,000 fewer than 2019. 

Despite the drop, police revealed two people have been arrested in connection with seperate reports of rape. 

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Among the other crimes were 39 thefts, 21 drug offences and five sexual assaults. Figures also showed assault on police (two), assault with injury (10), assault without injury (14), criminal damage (one), drug driving (one), public order (one), robbery (one) and theft of a pedal cycle (one).

Chief Inspector Beth Pirie said: “The crime levels remain low when taking into consideration the numbers of people who attended. 

“On the lead up to this year’s Boomtown Fair, we worked closely with the event organisers and partners to ensure staff were fully trained to assist anyone who needed help and make festival goers aware of who they could speak to if they had any concerns or to make a report.   

“As a result of this approach, a number of incidents were reported during the festival and police action has been taken.

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“This includes two separate reports of rape. Arrests have been in each case and our enquiries are ongoing.

“Our specialist officers will continue to support the two women who reported these incidents while we carry out full investigations.”

As previously reported, co-founder Lak Mitchell hailed the festival as "the best yet" and revealed medical incidents had also fallen this year - despite the heat. 

Winchester City Council also confirmed it received 10 noise complaints from residents over the extended weekend, almost half that of the 19 in 2019.