A SAINTS backed campaign aimed at 'kicking crime into touch' has seen calls to Crimestoppers in St Helens almost double.

It was launched in March at Langtree Park by Tommy Martyn, deputy police and crime commissioner Ann O'Byrne and Gary Murray from Crimestoppers.

Over the last three months Crimestoppers recorded a 45 per cent increase in information passed to them anonymously by members of the public leading to a number of arrests.

They received 170 calls between March and May in comparison with 93 from December 2014 to February 2015.

The Kick Crime into Touch campaign was funded by Merseyside Police and the Crime Commissioner's Crime Prevention Fund which aims to help charities, community groups and organisations that tackle social issues to stop problems before they occur.

This is done by reducing the opportunities for crime and deterring people from getting involved in criminal activities.

Merseyside's Police Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy said: "A huge thank you must go to the people of St Helens for their overwhelming response to this campaign and their commitment to passing on vital information about crime.

"These figure demonstrate a concerted effort by the public in St Helens to keep their communities safe and bring criminals to justice. By trusting Crimestoppers with their information they have actively prevented serious crime from taking place and have helped arrests to be made. This is something of which the whole community should be proud."

Gary Murray Crimestoppers' North West regional manager said: "The tremendous response to the campaign shows that people of St Helens want to live in a safe and secure community. I would encourage the public to continue to contact us with information about crime as intelligence from the community really makes a difference in the fight against crime."

Crimestoppers operates 24 hours a day on 0800 555 111 for people to pass on information about crimes anonymously. This can also be done via the website crimestoppers-uk.org.