METAL thefts in Oxford plunged by 67 per cent last year, Thames Valley Police announced yesterday.

The city saw 89 thefts between April 2012 and March 2013 compared with 268 the previous year, a drop of 66.8 per cent.

Across the county metal thefts fell to 499 from 908, a drop of 45 per cent.

A core team of five Thames Valley Police officers was formed in early 2012 to tackle the problem.

Detective Inspector Ian Wood, leading the team from Kidlington, said regular contact and visits to scrap metal traders had made them aware of suspicious activity to watch out for.

Det Insp Wood said: “Officers are now carrying out metal theft control as part of their day-to-day policing and looking for signs of metal theft.

“That has included checking the ID of people who look suspect.

“The results are really pleasing. We do keep an eye on them over the months but they are better than we expected.

“It is clear to see that the West Oxfordshire figures – even though they have reduced – are not as good as elsewhere like Oxford itself, which are really impressive.

“West Oxfordshire is a large rural area so we are working on developing procedures for rural crime.”

In West Oxfordshire the drop was the smallest at 16.9 per cent, falling from 130 to 108 thefts.

On December 3 the Government brought in new legislation which banned cash payments for scrap metal discouraging the illegal trade and making it easier to trace the sale of stolen metal.

Dealers initially worried the Scrap Metal Dealers Act could harm trade.

But the site manager of L C Hughes metal recycling in Bicester said yesterday business had actually increased.

Gareth Hughes said: “We are seeing more metal come in “It’s really good news scrap metal crime has gone down.

“We have been in good contact with the police and their investigation team so it’s not that surprising.

“If there is any suspicious stuff which comes in to the site we give them a call and they come down and have a look. The confidence people have has actually boosted trade.”

Across the Thames Valley, police conducted 55 operations to tackle the crime.

In May last year Operation Symphony targeted dealers thought to be involved in illegal metal trading.

Twenty-eight people were charged with 200 offences including selling, handling, or disposing of criminal property.

In November last year Michael Mitchell, of Herschel Crescent, Littlemore, Oxford, sold £3,500 of radioactive copper from the Harwell laboratory. He admitted receiving stolen goods and was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, at Oxford Crown Court in March 2013.