Handbag and phone snatched from Telford house
A sneak thief stole a woman's handbag and mobile phone from her house in Telford while she was upstairs, police said today.
The woman had arrived home yesterday at about 6pm at her home in Chilterns Gardens, Dawley, and put her handbag and her phone on a chair near to the property's back door.
She went upstairs to get changed but then, when she came back down around ten minutes later, she noticed the bag and phone were missing and that the back door was slightly ajar.
She checked around her property but no-one was anywhere to be seen.
Police spokesman Chris Ammonds said: "It appears that while the woman was upstairs, someone opened the rear door of her house and stole the handbag and the phone.
"When police were called a thorough search of the area around the property was carried out and although her driving licence was found dumped in Chiltern Gardens, no offenders and no further items were found.
"The stolen phone is a Sony Xperia mobile, while around £50 cash was in the victim's bag when it was stolen.
"In light of this incident, we would also like to remind people of the need to secure their homes at all times as opportunist thieves are out and about looking for vulnerable properties to target.
"Through the work of the force's burglary initiative, Citadel, we are being very pro-active and we are seeing the results of our focused operational activity every day.
"However, although burglaries do remain relatively rare in Telford & Wrekin, up to half of all burglaries are committed by thieves who enter the house through an unlocked door or an open window."
He added: "Opportunist thieves will not want to take unnecessary risks to carry out a burglary and therefore there are simple things that everyone can do to make life more difficult for them."
Anyone with information about the Dawley burglary is asked to contact West Mercia Police on 101 or 0300 333 3000, quoting reference number 207N 060313. Crimestoppers can also be called anonymously on 0800 555111.
