East Ayrshire has ranked inside the top 10 most dangerous places to in Scotland, according to data.

The information, gathered by Churchill Support Services, looked at the crime rate in each local authority area in the country.

According to their data, crime rates in Scotland peaked in 2004/2005, with 511,834 crimes reported over the course of the year.

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Since then, there's been steady decline year-on-year, with crime stats for 2021/2022 sitting at just over 55% of the 04/05 total, at 286,464 reported crimes.

Now the most recent information, covering July 2021 to June 2022, of the most dangers local authoirty areas has East Ayrshire ranked in 10th place.

By “the most dangerous areas”, they have ranked the local authorities that have the highest crime rate per 10,000 people living in the area.

The information finds that there were 836 crimes committed in East Ayrshire per 100,000 people in that time period.

Further up the list, Dumfries & Galloway has been branded a crime hotspot, with 1,220 crimes per 100,000 people in that time.

Dundee City was found to have had the most crimes, with 1,270 per 100,000.

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Talking about the East Ayrshire stats, the findings say: "Following on from our 10th spot is East Ayrshire, which closely borders our previous entry.

"Home to the sprawling town of Kilmarnock, as well as a rich, storied history told through its many castles and stately homes.

"It’s also a popular destination for ramblers, with many popular walking routes taking in the scenic Loch Doon."

It adds: "While East Ayrshire occupies the lowest spot on our list, there’s still some inherent danger, with 836 crimes taking place for every 10,000 people in East Ayrshire, although there’s low stats in many of the key areas of Scotland security concern, like violent crimes and robbery.

"However, one key point to keep in mind is that East Ayrshire has one of the highest statistics for theft outside of the 5 most dangerous areas of Scotland, with 166 incidents per 10,000 people."