A total of 74 per cent of crimes committed in St Albans have not been solved, the Review can reveal.

Despite assurances from Hertfordshire Police that the county is becoming safer, hundreds of people have been raped, assaulted and robbed without someone being caught and successfully prosecuted.

In the last five years detectives have failed to close 207, 039 cases across the whole county ranging from murder to burglary and fraud to violent attacks.

This includes three murders, two attempted murders, five manslaughter cases, 16 kidnap cases and 11,000 assaults.

Figures obtained in a Freedom of Information request have revealed that since 2010, 10,818 of the 33,700 crimes reported in St Albans, Harpenden and London Colney remain undetected, meaning nobody was charged or prosecuted.

The police are also yet to find the culprits behind 900 arson attacks.

Geoffrey Parker has been victim of a half a dozen of these attacks. The 54-year-old from Keswick Close used to run an animal rescue centre from his house. He had 142 rabbits and guinea pigs in a trailer in his garden - all of which he had to release when someone started a fire in 2013.

Mr Parker lives with his wife Christine, and during the past 18 months there they say there have been five fires in their garden, one of which firefighters said was close to spreading to the house.

In another incident last year, Mr Parker had his marquee burnt down the night before he was due to take the animals and show them to cubs in Watford.

He said: "This has been a traumatic nightmare for us. Not only has it been extremely stressful, losing our animals has been devastating - and knowing it is deliberate has made it that much worse.

"The police have been called on all occasions and although they get the details down they haven't been able to stop the person doing this. I think more cameras would be a suggestion. I hope they don't forget our case."

The police also failed to find the person or people responsible for planting one fake bomb - but they did not reveal which borough it happened in.

They are also still yet to solve 27 crimes relating to sharing false information about a hoax bomb.

There are also 90 unsolved cases relating to sexual assault with a boy under the age of 13, and 83 girls under the age of 13 have still not seen their rapists bought to justice.

Elsewhere in the county, there were 14,755 unsolved crimes in Watford, compared to 6,028 in Borehamwood.

Natalie Dearman said on behalf of Hertfordshire Constabulary: "Along with reducing crime and keeping people safe, detecting crime and bringing offenders to justice is a core objective for Hertfordshire Constabulary.

"During the period concerned the Constabulary detected 36 per cent of crime in St Albans, 42 per cent of crime in Watford and 36 per cent of crime in Borehamwood compared to the national average rate of 28.9 per cent for 2012/13.

"As well as producing higher crime detection rates, Hertfordshire Constabulary also maintains some of the lowest crime rates in the country and has the highest levels of satisfaction in the country.

"Hertfordshire Constabulary will revisit and investigate unsolved crimes if further evidence comes to light.

"We are dedicated to investigating every crime report we receive and making sure victims of crime are taken seriously. There are many reasons why some crimes go unsolved, including the nature of the crime itself.

"Some crimes may have a lack of investigative opportunity with no evidence or further lines of enquiry and the willingness and vulnerability of victims and witnesses can also present challenges."

"Being a victim of crime is a horrible experience and we would not want anyone to be deterred in reporting crime in the future."