Wot no crime?

I love English language newspapers. They fulfill an important niche for ex-pats, telling us all we need to know about what can, at times, seem like a baffling nation. Writing and researching my articles has given me a fascinating insight into how France and particularly the Dordogne ticks.
However, if I were to have one teensy niggle about the English language national papers, it would be this - they rarely report on crime, particularly violent crime. Now, I'm not suggesting that these monthly papers should become gruesome crime digests but it does frustrate me that almost every ex-pat I speak to believes that France is far safer than Britain; a view gleaned in large part from the English language papers. I think it is easy when you write the news to forget that for many of your readers this is their only source of information. Their readership don't, by and large, watch the French news or read French papers.
Round here, where most of us live in the serene Dordogne countryside, it is pretty crime free but still, and I'm sorry if this bursts your bubble, murders do happen, bodies are found in lakes, petrol stations are robbed and youths do still stab each other.
In fact, whilst most crime does occur in the cities, France has pretty much the same crime figures as other European nations (such as the U.K ) though more women (160) are killed each year by their husbands and violent robberies in the cities are rising fast..............