Police alert over spate of burglaries and thefts in Shropshire

Jewellery and computers have been stolen from homes in Church Stretton – and police believe there is an opportunist thief targeting insecure or unoccupied homes.

In Ludlow, cash and a laptop were stolen from South Shropshire Furniture Scheme's Renaissance Centre store last weekend.

In total, there have been four house burglaries, one shop burglary, three shed break-ins, and one theft from a house that two men talked their way into in the two towns over the past fortnight.

Police are urging people to be on the lookout for anyone acting suspiciously and to make sure their homes and businesses are secure.

In Church Stretton, there was a break-in at a house on Churchill Road overnight between Saturday and Sunday. On the same weekend someone entered an unlocked house, through the rear garden, on Helmeth Road, directly across the A49 from Churchill Road.

"Jewellery and ornaments were taken, two watches, gold cufflinks, a framed metal case, a silver frame, a silver cake slice and silver compact", Sergeant Adrian Woolley said. A week earlier between January 3 and 5, cosmetic jewellery had been taken from a house on Alison Road, and an iPad computer tablet from Street Meadow. "There would seem to be an opportunist person going around," said Sergeant Woolley.

Meanwhile, two men talked their way into their victim's home on Tuesday where they are believed to have stolen cash.

The same road was the site of a shed theft, when two sets of golf clubs with trolleys were taken sometime between January 8 and 10. Between January 6 and 7 a garden shed on Temeside in Ludlow was broken into but nothing stolen. There were also four vehicle and trailer thefts in the region between January 5 and 8.