Police are appealing for witnesses after a spate of burglaries in Abingdon.

Between midnight and 3.24am on Saturday, offenders broke into a house in Longmead and stole some electrical items and the keys to an orange Peugeot Expert van, which they also took from the drive.

On the same night, a house in Springfield Drive was also burgled and a black Ford Fiesta was stolen.

At some time between midnight and 8am thieves managed to get into a property in Mons Way by putting an implement through the letterbox to open the door to steal a laptop.

Two houses in Ypres Way were also broken into overnight on April 10 and electrical items, including a plasma television, DVD player, Nintendo WII console and some games were stolen.

Det Con Dave Evans said: “I urge anyone who might have seen any suspicious activity, or has any information about these burglaries, to contact me.

“Most burglaries are carried out by opportunist thieves, and on each of these occasions the thieves have managed to get into the property because the front door wasn’t locked. If doors aren’t locked properly, especially UPVC doors, the thieves can use an implement through the letterbox to open the door.

“Reduce the risk of your home being burgled by making sure you take some simple and inexpensive precautions.”