THE father of a murdered Tilbury man has taken centre stage in a national newspaper's damning indictment of the town and its rising tide of violence.

The story, featuring Tim North, a 57-year-old whose son Craig died after being stabbed multiple times on Sunday, 2 January.

He has told of his heartbreak and fears for the town's future in Daily Mirror interview - where a story describes Tilbury as Essex's most dangerous small town.

The feature piece comes just days after two men received lengthy jail sentences for another violent attack when a man was severely injured with a machette.

Mr North has told how he was alerted by police to news that his son Craig, 35, had been rushed to hospital after being attacked. He died three days later.

Darnel Curtin, 19, of Chesterton Way, Tilbury, was charged with murder and possession of an offensive weapon and is awaiting trial,

Mr North says Tilbury has changed dramatically over the last half century, becoming a place where serious violence is a regular occurance.

He tells the Mirror: "There used to be fights when we'd go out to the pub, but you'd just get hit in the face and that'd be it.

"The area is a problem. It's a bad old place now. Round here, there's a lot of trouble."

The Mirror reports that residents in Tilbury are twice as likely to be burgled, robbed or violently attacked than the average person in the county, while sexual assault and rape reports are a third higher.

And the paper reflects on the fact that closure of the town's police station is a major cause of public concern.

The paper has spoken to a number of residents, including Sue Nelson, 69, a widow of 17 years who moved into her current home in 1986, calls Tilbury "the forgotten town".

She says: "There is so much crime now. It is getting so much worse since the police station went."

Maggie Wood, 67, who works in a charity shop in the town centre, said like many in the area she doesn't go outside at night by herself anymore.

She said she "felt quite safe when the police station was open", but "you don't see so many police now."

The litany of disquiet goes on throughout the article.

Nick Patel works in a corner shop that's been raided twice in the past year, with burglars making off £15,000 of cigarettes and cash on a single night. Ruth Parvis, 87, lost £300 to door-knock fraudsters pretending to be from the council. And Charlotte Ward, 26, and her two-year-old son were witnesses to the attack that saw brothers Ferrell and Maison Falzon jailed last week for their brutal machette assault.