Banbury distraction burglar posed as police officer

8:05pm Thursday 4th December 2008

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Police are appealing for witnesses following two distraction burglaries in Banbury.

At 7.30pm on Tuesday, a man in his seventies heard a knock on an internal kitchen door in his property in Sandford Green and found two men in the kitchen. One of them stated someone was upstairs in the property and offered to go and look for him.

When the occupant looked upstairs it was empty and found that his cupboards had been opened. He challenged the men who immediately left the address and it appears that a set of keys were taken.

At 7.50pm, there was an attempt to force open the front door of a house in Levenot Close. When the resident – a woman in her seventies – went to investigate, a man told her he was a police officer and there were people in the garden.

He then took her into the kitchen while a second man walked into the house and into the bedroom without her knowing. When she went upstairs she discovered the man and when she confronted him they both left. It appears nothing was stolen.

One man is white, in his late thirties or early forties, about 5ft 10in tall, very stocky, clean shaven, has a round face, short black hair and an Irish accent. He was wearing a red woollen hat, a black donkey jacket and blue jeans and was carrying a torch.

The second man was also white, aged in his mid-thirties, around 5ft 10in tall, heavy build, is clean shaven, has short blonde hair and an Irish accent. He was wearing a green woolly hat, light brown leather jacket and blue jeans.

PC Adam Taylor, of the Banbury priority crime team, said: “People who commit distraction burglaries are completely without morals, proved in one of these cases by them pretending to be police officers.

“If anyone has seen these men acting suspiciously in the Sandford Green and Levenot Close areas – did they call at or try to gain entry to your home? – then please come forward."