THE RSPCA have made more prosecutions in northern counties than anywhere else in England and Wales.

But the charity’s cruelty statistics for 2013 have shown a drop in the number of people being convicted in Lancashire.

Last year, the RSPCA was responsible for convicting 34 defendants from the county of 69 offences, whereas there were 46 defendants convicted of 159 charges in 2012.

The figures form part of the charity’s Prosecutions Annual Report which has been published to coincide with #RSPCAWeek, which runs until Sunday.

RSPCA regional manager Mike Hogg said: “The figures are usually the highest in the north of England, and of course it’s impossible to say for certain why that is.

“We have a large number of big cities in the region where greater numbers of people typically live. There also tend to be greater levels of poverty and education in these places. Another factor could be that people living in the north are more likely to call the RSPCA if they see something they don’t think is right.”

Across England and Wales the number of people convicted decreased 11.7 per cent from 1,552 to 1,371 but across the RSPCA’s north of England region the number was up 6.6 per cent at 566 in 2013 compared to 531 in 2012.

In the North of England region, the RSPCA investigated 1,763 more complaints in 2013 than in 2012 (38,664 up from 36,901). In England and Wales the number of complaints investigated rose from 150,833 in 2012 to 153,770 in 2013.