Jewellery targeted in St Albans burglaries

A large quantity of jewellery was stolen from an address in Cunningham Hill Road between 3.30pm and 6pm on Tuesday, October 29.

Later that day, at 10pm, two suspects were disturbed by a resident at an address in Willowside, London Colney, but nothing was stolen or damaged.

Another burglary took place at around 7pm yesterday in Antoine Gate. An alarm went off, which alerted a neighbour and may have disturbed the offender.

Jewellery was also stolen from an address in Augustus Close between 5.40pm and 7pm yesterday, which is being linked to the Antoine Gate burglary.

St Albans Det Insp Alex Warwick said: "We have seen burglaries in St Stephens and the Camp/Fleetville area in particular recently.

"These are opportunist burglaries with burglars disturbed at one address by an alarm.

"We continue to patrol current hotspots, previous hotspots and speak to offenders with a history of burglaries, as part of an in-depth plan to prevent burglaries from happening in the first place.

"However, we need residents to do their bit too. It's a good idea to keep valuable jewellery in a bank, or in a safe if it is kept at home, in a place that is not obvious.

"Burglars want to be in and out of an address as quickly as possible and don't want to get caught. Don't make it easy for them.

"Consider investing in an alarm, doorbell camera, timer lights, outside sensor lights, or CCTV. These all act as deterrents for a thief scouring an area to find the quickest way in to an address without being seen.

"Please also let us know if you see anyone acting suspiciously. This gives us every opportunity to catch a burglar in the act.

"Some of you have been sending us in footage of prowlers caught on your CCTV systems. That is very helpful to us to try to identify suspects and areas to patrol."

Anyone with information about any of the burglaries above is asked to contact police by calling the non-emergency number 101 or online at herts.police.uk/report