Armed police in Uxbridge, Hillingdon health unit fire and Hanwell Zoo re-opening made the week's most read stories

Crime has, unsurprisingly, dominated this week's top five most read stories.

The good news is it wasn't concentrated just in one area.

Uxbridge , Ealing , Hillingdon and Harrow all earned a mention for the wrong reasons, while the re-opening of popular Hanwell Zoo also made the list.

Most read April 3-April 9

Here are our five most read stories of the week (April 3 - April 9):

Armed police seen patrolling Uxbridge High Street after reports of a man with a weapon

Armed police spotted in Uxbridge high Street (Image: James Carson)

Shoppers felt more than a little nervous when officers carrying guns were seen at around 4pm on Monday (April 3).

Metropolitan Police explained that they had received a report of an "altercation" between a group of men, some of them believed to be carrying knives.

They discovered one man with a minor injury but, despite detaining and searching seven men, no weapons were found.

Two teenagers jailed following 12-month burglary spree across west London

Tiago Mendes (left) stole a car from a house in Harrow as well as taking part in a number of other burglaries and thefts across west London and Bucks with Patrick Hanrahan (right)

Tiago Mendes, 19, of Thorpe Crescent, Watford, and his accomplice Patrick Hanrahan, 18, of no fixed abode, had targeted properties in Harrow, Denham, Northwood and Buckinghamshire.

Mendes admitted nine counts of burglary and other offences, receiving a total of six years and three months’ imprisonment and a driving ban.

Hanrahan admitted two counts of burglary and other offences, receiving a sentence of two years and eight months plus a driving ban.

Hanwell Zoo introduces entry fee as it re-opens, to cover cost of new attractions

Hannah Duffy, Luke Duffy, Isobel Burke, and Henry Burke help Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Mayor of Ealing Councillor Dr. Patricia Walker, and Councillor Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council officially open Hanwell Zoo

As the former Brent Park Lodge relaunched as Hanwell Zoo, visitors were asked to pay for entry for the first time .

Bosses of the attraction, which has been free to enter for more than 40 years, blamed rising maintenance costs.

An Ealing councillor said the small fee - £2.50 for adults and £1 for children - represented "phenomenal value for money".

The safest and most dangerous places to live in Ealing and Hounslow revealed, according to crime figures

Officers were called to 37,986 reports of crime in Ealing during 2016 (Image: Getty Images)

We crunched Metropolitan Police data and found that the Ealing Broadway ward saw more reported crimes than anywhere else in the borough during 2016.

Of the 37,986 police call-outs in Ealing last year, officers went to Ealing Broadway 3,061 times, which topped the list ahead of East Acton with 2,653 call-outs.

At the foot of the table was Northfield, with 722 reports - the lowest in the borough.

In Hounslow, bustling areas such as Hounslow Town Centre and Brentford topped the table for total crimes committed in 2016.

At the other end of the scale Hounslow South and Chiswick Riverside recorded some of the fewest.

Hillingdon mental health unit patient left in critical condition after fire in bedroom

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A patient was taken to Hillingdon Hospital after being badly injured in a fire at the Riverside Centre in Pield Heath Road at around 9.25am on Monday (April 3).

On Thursday (April 6), a spokesman for Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the unit, said the patient was "improving but still in hospital".

No other patients were injured. Two staff members suffered minor injuries, but were back on duty the same day.