CRIMINALS coughed up MORE than 100 per cent of their court fines between April and June this year.

Improvements in fines collection in North Yorkshire and York meant officials were able to rake in 113 per cent of fines over the three-month period.

That figure is so high because it takes into account fines imposed, but not paid earlier in the year.

It is one of a raft of new statistics released by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform - and they all give the county's Criminal Justice Board (CJB) a clean bill of health.

As well as the impressive fines collection rate, the survey showed public confidence in the local criminal justice system was at an all-time high.

North Yorkshire's Chief Constable Della Cannings said the good results proved "the system was being rebalanced in favour of the law-abiding majority".

In North Yorkshire and York:

* 45 per cent of people questioned in the British Crime Survey expressed confidence in the system bringing offenders to justice - the highest since the CJB was launched in April 2003.

* The average time between arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders is 55 days - compared to a national target of 71 days.

* Only 8.1 per cent of trials fail to go ahead on the day they were planned, beating a national target of 15 per cent.

* For the year ending June, 2006, 14,460 offences were brought to justice, against a 2002 baseline of 12,171.

Ms Cannings, who also serves as chairman of the North Yorkshire CJB, said: "The agencies that make up our board are continuing to work effectively together to ensure that the system is being rebalanced in favour of the law-abiding majority.

"I am pleased that these figures show progress is being made, but there is clearly more work to be done."

The figures come as the criminal justice agencies prepare for Inside Justice Week - a national initiative aimed at demystifying the criminal justice process.

Events will take place across North Yorkshire throughout Inside Justice Week, from November 18 to 25. They include school roadshows, accompanied open court sessions and a poster competition for primary school children to design their own crime-busting hero.