Violent crime alone, of which there were 5,111 incidents in Cambridgeshire including murder and serious assault, cost the taxpayer a staggering £78.86 each every year.

Figures, compiled by the campaign group TaxPayers' Alliance, show the 724 sexual offences cost the second highest amount at £33.75 per person.

Similarly, the 19,305 thefts last year cost each of the county's 752,900 residents £24.15.

Although compared to forces such as Nottingham and the Metropolitan Police, where total cost of crime was £389 and £387 per person each year, Cambridgeshire fared relatively better.

Related: Revealed: The true cost of crime to the city
A special report by The Evening Telegraph, 4 July 2008

What do you think about the crime cost figures?
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Today, MP for Peterborough Stewart Jackson said he was not surprised by the figures as both violent crime and anti-social behaviour were proving to be a "problem" in Peterborough.

He said: "Crime costs everyone except the criminal. Many taxpayers now have very little trust in the criminal justice system and we need to do something about this as soon as possible."

Using crime data from each police force, the report from the TaxPayers' Alliance compared the number of different crimes in each police force area in England and Wales with the Home Office estimates of the cost of each type of crime.

Each cost also accounts for the pain and loss for the victim, medical costs and police investigation time.

Mr Jackson added: "Until we get proper funding, more police on the beat, proper sentencing, more prison space and we take dangerous criminals off of the streets instead of releasing them early then we are not going to solve this problem.

"Cambridgeshire police is not as responsible as it should be towards anti-social behaviour and often dismiss it and refuses to follow it up, so it continues to blight people's lives."

MP for North West Cambridgeshire Shailesh Vara said the report would help the debate on crime by demonstrating the financial costs involved, which are often not considered.

He said: "Crime and the effect it has on their families' and communities' safety and well being is, quite rightly, at or near the top of most people's concerns at the moment.

"However, the most important thing is to find more effective ways to reduce crime – through rigorous policing, by focusing on the causes of crime and our broken society, and also by having an effective prisons policy."

Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance Matthew Sinclair added: "The people of Cambridgeshire pay a heavy price for the rate of crime. Cambridgeshire police should be publishing regular, detailed information about local crime rates right across the county, to make themselves more accountable.