A family has fled Britain to start a new life in Malaysia after soaring crime rates under Labour caused the parents to ban their children from playing outside.
Kayleigh Hall, 37, and husband Kev Hall, 41, left the town of Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, with their three children in March – and do not plan to return.
The full-time mum gave up her job in sales to home educate their kids Pippa, 11, Freddie, seven, and Ronnie, two.
Meanwhile, ex-mortgage advisor Mr Hall now runs his own sales and marketing business remotely.
They now travel the world full-time, starting with two months in Spain, before heading to Malaysia – with plans to go on to Singapore or Japan.
Mrs Hall said the family no longer felt safe in the UK, seeing local crime rates skyrocket and horrifying ‘random attacks’ on people in the community.
‘A lady across the road at 6pm, even though it was light, had somebody go past her on a bike and put a knife across her cheek and slash her when she was walking her dog, which is really horrible,’ she explained.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer was accused of giving ‘free rein’ to criminals as shoplifting, muggings and fraud hit the highest levels since records began.
A family (pictured) has fled Britain to start a new life in Malaysia after soaring crime rates under Labour caused the parents to ban their children from playing outside
Kayleigh Hall, 37, and husband Kev Hall, 41, upped sticks from the town of Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, with their three children in March – and do not plan to return. Pictured: The Halls
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer (pictured yesterday) was accused of giving ‘free rein’ to criminals as shoplifting, muggings and fraud hit the highest levels since records began
Shock figures reveal Britain is in the grip of a ‘retail crime epidemic’ with one theft recorded every minute for the first time in history.
Shoplifting levels have doubled since the pandemic and rocketed by 20 per cent since the Government came into power last year.
At the same time, street muggings for mobile phones and handbags have spiralled, with a 15 per cent rise in personal theft to a record 151,220 offences.
Critics also accused the PM of ushering in a soft justice crimewave after releasing thousands of thieves early from prisons at a time of falling police numbers.
Police chiefs are warning of more cuts to come due to a lack of funding.
Mrs Hall said she felt crime levels back home appeared to have spiralled further even in the mere six months since she left with her family.
‘I feel like that’s all I ever see on social media. People getting attacked or it just seems to be getting out of control,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t let the kids play out or anything, which is crazy, not being able to feel safe in your own neighbourhood even though we lived in quite a nice area.
Mrs Hall said she felt crime levels back home appeared to have spiralled further even in the mere six months since she left with her family (pictured)
‘I feel like that’s all I ever see on social media. People getting attacked or it just seems to be getting out of control,’ she said. Pictured: The Halls
She continued: ‘I think Britain is broken at the minute’. Pictured: Mrs Hall, with two of her children, Ronnie and Pippa
‘Kids beating up other kids and recording it and streaming it on social media. That’s happened a few times.’
She continued: ‘I think Britain is broken at the minute.
‘It’s all over social media how bad things are getting and crime rates and people getting arrested for saying certain things online.
‘I don’t know what’s going on but I’m glad we’re not there.’
The mother concluded: ‘We decided we wanted nicer weather, cheaper cost of living and to be safer.’
After initially heading to Spain, the Halls planned to go on to the Middle East – but they settled on Malaysia as their next destination because it was cheaper.
Mrs Hall explained: ‘We just got fed up of paying for a mortgage, both working full-time, kids in school, never seeing them.
‘On a weekend you don’t really get quality time together because you’re knackered.
‘It’s all over social media how bad things are getting and crime rates and people getting arrested for saying certain things online’. Pictured: A video the Halls made about why they left the UK
The mother concluded: ‘We decided we wanted nicer weather, cheaper cost of living and to be safer’. Pictured: A video the Halls made about why they left the UK
With their costs in Malaysia far lower than their outgoings back in the UK, the family has more cash for travelling, with plans to head to Singapore or Japan. Pictured: The Halls
‘We were sick of all our money going on a house that we didn’t really care about in the end.
‘What started off as a forever home turned into a bit of a noose around our neck.’
Their costs in Malaysia are far lower than their outgoings back in the UK: ‘It’s all for our kids, we’re doing it for them to have a better life and get more opportunities…
‘Our mortgage and the car was probably £2,500 a month in the UK.
‘Here, we’ve got an all-singing, all-dancing three-bedroom apartment, fully furnished, with all bills included, for £700.
‘It’s got a private cinema, a bowling alley, two swimming pools, it is incredible. It feels like living in a holiday resort but it’s everyday life. It’s class.
‘I can’t ever see us ever going back.
‘It’s a no-brainer to stay out of the UK right now. Especially as I think it’s going to get worse and worse and more expensive.’
Mrs Hall (pictured with her family) said: ‘It’s all for our kids, we’re doing it for them to have a better life and get more opportunities’
‘I can’t ever see us ever going back’, she continued. Pictured: Two of the Halls’ children, Ronnie and Freddie
She said: ‘It’s a no-brainer to stay out of the UK right now’. Pictured: The Halls
The mother confessed: ‘Our mortgage and the car was probably £2,500 a month in the UK’. Pictured: A breakdown of the Halls’ costs in the UK versus Malaysia
She continued: ‘We’ve got an all-singing, all-dancing three-bedroom apartment, fully furnished, with all bills included, for £700’. Pictured: A video the Halls made about why they left the UK
Mrs Hall has home educated her children for more than a year and is continuing to do so abroad.
She said: ‘I just find it irrelevant that in this day and age you’re still learning the stuff that I learned 25 years ago. I think the whole curriculum needs to shake up.
‘I think it’s not preparing kids for life today, it’s outdated, it’s not moving with the times.
‘I find it crazy that they’re still the same and lead to very basic paid jobs that aren’t going to get you out of the rat race.
‘I don’t really do the curriculum. It’s very much learning everyday just what we’re doing. The kids can read and write.
‘We learn locally about a country that we’re in or an animal that we see.
‘They’re more confident. If we’re in a restaurant they’ll ask for the bill, they’ll ask for a drink, they’ll ask for a sauce whereas before they were scared to speak to people.’
It comes after a Daily Mail investigation recently showed more than eight out of ten crimes went unsolved last year.
A Daily Mail investigation recently showed more than eight out of ten crimes went unsolved last year. Pictured: File photo
Police last year opened 3.9million crime cases – yet our stark analysis revealed 3.3million were closed either with no suspect ever identified or coppers unable to prosecute them.
Sex offenders and thieves were among the criminals who evaded justice last year.
Using the data we uncovered, the Daily Mail has built a postcode search tool laying bare the situation in your neighbourhood.
It reveals how many offences actually resulted in action being taken in your LSOA – tiny geographical areas home to around 2,000 people, typically consisting of just a few streets.
Action taken can mean a suspect being hauled to court, or being cautioned by the police, given a fine or being made to attend an awareness or education course.
The widget, available to use in our investigation, also lists the types of crimes reported to police last year that had an ‘outcome’, and how many occurred.
No crime was solved in almost 900 of approximately 34,000 LSOAs in England and Wales in the year ending May 2025, according to our analysis of Police UK figures.
Chalk Farm and Primrose Hill, a suburb of Camden, north London, topped the league table, with all 150 reported crimes going unsolved.
It was followed by the Bromley Common and Holwood area of Bromley (133 crimes) and the Marshalswick West region of St Albans in Hertfordshire (114).
