POLICE are offering crime prevention advice after hundreds of thousands of pounds worth in tools and building materials was stolen during a spate of shed burglaries in the Cambridge area this week.

There have been seven shed or outbuilding burglaries reported within a one-mile radius since Monday (September 26).

One of these incidents happened between 1pm on Wednesday and 9am yesterday (Thursday) when offenders forced entry to a shed on Ryalls Lane and stole power tools and the contents of a freezer.

Another shed was broken into at a neighbouring property at about the same time, whilst the homeowners were on holiday.

A burglary also happened at a hotel’s outbuilding on Bristol Road when offenders forced entry and stole power tools and building material, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds between 8.30pm on Wednesday and 7.30am yesterday.

Insp Andy Poole, of the Stroud local policing area, said: “These break-ins are believed to be linked and we are doing all we can to trace the offenders responsible.

“Most burglars know that behind the door to your shed there could be an Aladdin’s Cave of many thousands of pounds worth of expensive equipment.

“Most items that can be stolen from a shed can be easily resold online or at a car boot sale, so make life a bit harder for a thief and protect your valuables.

“Many sheds are not strong enough to withstand a determined attempt to break into them, so wherever possible find an alternative secure location for your equipment, such as a locked garage or your house.”

The following security advice has been issued by police:

  • install a good lock
  • fit a shed alarm
  • make sure that any items stored in your shed are security-marked with your postcode, registered and properly secured; a forensic DNA marker is a good option
  • reconsider where you store expensive bikes; if you have nowhere else to store them then make sure they are security-marked and registered with Bike Register – www.bikeregister.com
  • some of the equipment stored in a shed could be used to break into your home so take particular care to remove or secure these
  • grow prickly plants close to the shed window
  • use a garden security light
  • display a sign on your shed warning thieves that all valuables have been removed
  • make sure that access to your garden is difficult for a thief; keep gates shut and locked and fences and boundary walls in good repair
  • don’t leave ladders and tools lying around in your garden – these could be used to break into your home
  • one of the most important, and often over looked, is to copy down the make, model and serial numbers of your garden machines such as drills, hedge cutters and lawnmowers and provide these to your insurers should you have your property stolen
  • photograph your property and either engrave, paint or mark with a forensic marker with your postcode in a prominent place
  • remember to record all serial numbers on Immobilise – www.immobilise.com

Anyone with information on these burglaries should call police on 101 quoting incidents 110, 452 and 502 of September 29.