Fewer homes in Stoke-on-Trent have been broken into thanks to a crime-fighting partnership.

Police in the city linked up with The Sentinel for a two-pronged campaign aimed at helping to prevent homes being ransacked while their owners were on holiday.

During the summer, there were 30 per cent fewer break-ins after the paper ran a series of articles.

And new figures show that a Christmas repeat was almost as successful, with a 28 per cent cut.

PC Ian Taberner, Stoke-on-Trent’s strategic crime reduction officer said: “The relationship with The Sentinel may not be the sole reason for the reductions in those two particular periods but, quite clearly, it has had a major influence.

“We are delighted it has been so successful and look forward to repeating the initiative in the months to come.

“Anything which results in fewer victims of crime has to be welcomed.”

In the first link-up, the paper carried three articles focusing on the plight of people whose homes had been broken into while they were away.

Advice was also carried from the police and the paper published a Good Neighbour card for readers to cut out. This was to be filled in and handed to a trusted friend or neighbour, giving all the holiday details – such as when and where they were going, with which holiday company and a contact number.

Readers were also encouraged to keep a close eye on the homes of neighbours who were away.

In the six weeks after the articles appeared during the summer, the number of burglaries fell to 330 from 460 in the corresponding period of 1999. During the fortnight after the pre-Christmas article, 130 burglaries were reported, compared with 180 in the same period in 1999.

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