A police news “black-out”, which means details of serious crimes are not being circulated to the press, is being slammed by the Hartlepool Mail as the paper launches its Crusade on Crime.

Masked raids on pensioners and a knifepoint robbery were just two offences that have recently been without mention from the police.

But the Mail believes its readers should know about them.

Some offences only come to light when information reaches the newsroom from a source other than the police.

MP Peter Mandelson is backing the Mail, branding the state of affairs as “completely unacceptable”, claiming the only people to benefit would be criminals.

Editor Harry Blackwood said: “We welcome Mr Mandelson’s intervention and couldn’t agree more with his comments.

“Crime is the biggest single issue that our readers write to us about and criminal behaviour certainly has the biggest effect on the quality of life experienced by our readers.

“The Mail has always sought to support the police and help them in any way we can and our record shows this.

“What we can’t accept is a news blackout imposed by the police to support their own agenda.

“We don’t want to increase the fear of crime but we have a duty to our readers to give them information that they can use to prevent crime and protect themselves.

“Although we have already discussed this problem with the police and got nowhere, we are more than happy to sit down again and talk about it.

“We are on the same side as the police and they ought to remember that.”

Mr Mandelson added: “I am very concerned that relations have apparently broken down between police and press in this way because these are two of the most vital elements in our continuing fight against crime.

“I want to read headlines that say criminals have been caught and properly sentenced, and positive stories that underline the work of the police, the local press and many other agencies that work together in this common cause.”

The Crusade on Crime is to fight what the Mail sees as the weakening of the criminal justice system and the way it can be exploited by defendants.

Only two out of 300 people who took part in a phone poll by the Mail said the criminal justice system was not appalling, following comments by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.