POLICE are urging homeowners to be on their guard after a spate of 20 shed and garage burglaries with thousands of pounds’ worth of items taken.

Twenty-two sheds and garages were broken into across Southend in a two-week period. In half the offences, bicycles were taken – some worth up to £5,000.

Chief Insp Simon Anslow, district commander for Southend, said: “Decent value bikes are going. Burglary is one where we can get a lot of offences in a short space of time and seeing someone cycling along the road on a bike you can’t tell whether it’s been stolen or not.

“It makes property marking on bikes particularly important.”

Figures released from between October 6 and 19 show the breakins were spread across the borough, but particularly in the Southchurch area, with raiders gaining entry by forcing doors or cutting padlocks.

In one case, two bikes worth £5,000 each were stolen from a garage in Kenilworth Gardens, Westcliff.

They stole a yellow Brodie Sovereign mountain bike and a black and blue Stevens mountain bike between 12.10am and 9am on Friday, October 10.

Mr Anslow added: “Be aware we have this slight increase. I urge people to be vigilant about locking their sheds and garages and think of simple crime prevention methods like having appropriate lighting and making the perimeter of back gardens as secure as possible. Don’t leave garden gates unlocked and report suspicious behaviour.”