Burglars strike 22 times in 19 days (From Swindon Advertiser)

Burglars strike 22 times in 19 days in West Swindon

8:40am Friday 4th January 2013 in News By Scott D'Arcy

LAPTOPS, iPods and even wrapped up Christmas presents were among items plundered by a gang of burglars in the past three weeks.

Police in West Swindon have urged homeowners to take precautions to stop themselves becoming victims to the gang, who have struck 22 times since the December 16, looting 17 cars, two homes and three garages.

Many of the vehicles or homes which were raided had unsecured doors or windows, which police say made it an easy night’s work for the criminals, but harder work for officers to collar them.

Hundreds of pounds worth of gadgets, like iPods, laptops and sat-navs, were taken from the parked cars, while cash, jewellery and bicycles went missing from homes and garages.

PC Tom Turner said: “There have been a number of incidents where windows have been smashed or garage doors bent up, but the majority of the burglaries have been through insecure doors and windows of both cars and houses.

“The gang appear to have been systematically walking down streets and trying handles in residential roads in Shaw, Westlea and Peatmoor, so there may be one or two reports in a street before they move on.

“This is a problem we have had ongoing in the area for some time and we have done a lot of preventative work, as well as making arrests, but this latest spate highlights that the message needs to be repeated.

“I would urge people to lock their doors and not to leave their valuables on show. We all have iPods and other things we keep in the car, but they are portable.

“If thieves see them they will go for them.

“Not locking your door makes their life very easy and our job very difficult.

“Most importantly we need people to contact us if they see anything suspicious in their area, such as groups walking around late at night, looking up and down driveways. The community are our eyes and ears on the ground and if we have information we can act on it.”

Anyone with any information or who sees anything suspicious should contact 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.