Rise in crime during coach crash

The coach was on the way back from a trip to Alton Towers

Police say there was a rise in crime in an area of Staffordshire on Monday as officers dealt with a coach crash in which one man died and 71 were hurt.

Ch Insp John Maddox said there was a jump in vehicle crime in Cheadle while numerous officers were sent to nearby Alton after the crash.

The coach, travelling back from Alton Towers, collided with a car and crashed through a wall, landing in a garden.

Ch Insp Maddox said it was possible criminals "exploited" the situation.

He said the 14 incidents reported on Monday evening were mainly thefts from cars and the number represented a "spike" in crime within the "rural and sedate" communities he polices.

Day trip

"Well, as we know, criminals are always going to exploit any opportunity. It is possible that they have exploited this incident," he told BBC News.

"We have a rise in the number of crimes against vehicles in and around the Cheadle area and that may be because someone has seen an opportunity.

"I am investigating those crimes. If we find from our forensic opportunities an offender, then I will being it to the attention of the courts."

The two areas are part of Staffordshire Moorlands which is policed by 120 officers.

Ch Insp Maddox, who was in charge of dealing with the crash, said 25 officers were called to the incident.

The bus, from a firm in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, had been carrying farm migrant workers on a day trip from Lutton Farm, in Oundle, Northamptonshire.

Four people remain in hospital and two, including the 62-year-old coach driver, who is from Peterborough, are still in a critical condition.

A post-mortem examination on 26-year-old Piotr Wolski, from Poland, has proved inconclusive and further tests will now be carried out, Staffordshire Police said.

Tests are also being carried out on the coach at a police garage and officers began interviewing passengers on Wednesday.