POLICE have urged residents in Skipton to lock their doors following a spate of opportunistic burglaries.

Sergeant Paul Evans, speaking at Skipton’s annual meeting at the town hall, said while Craven remained one of the safest - if not the safest - place to live in the country, it was 'concerning' that incidents of burglary and theft had risen since last year, with the rise in the cost of living a possible reason.

Sgt Evans also told the meeting on Thursday evening last week that crime tended to go in 'peaks and troughs' in areas and he believed Craven was currently experiencing a 'peak'.

He said: “A lot of people are complacent in Skipton, some properties are broken into when people have forgotten to lock the front door. That appeal is to everybody to lock their doors. We’d reduce the figures futures greatly if this happened more.”

He added: “The safest place in the country is still Craven, so we must put it into context. Craven is top of the list in North Yorkshire, and Skipton is safest in Craven."

Sgt Evans said the police often rely on home security systems like cameras which can help in a prosecution. He said: “We have suspects and then things like Ring doorbells help a lot. They are not the most genius of criminals in Skipton so the cameras give us a lot.”

The officer also said there had been 519 reports of anti-social behaviour in Skipton over the last year with many of these disputes between neighbours that police tried to resolve.

He also said there had been 60 reports of hate crimes in the town.

There have been reports of burglaries and thefts across Craven in the last month, including thefts of farm vehicles, cattle fencing and a cement mixer.

Police have linked a burglary and three attempted burglaries that all happened during one night in the same area in Skipton.

Electrical items and a wallet was stolen from a house in Upper Union Street, overnight on Sunday, April 7 and Monday, April 9.

Attempts were then made at three other properties in the town, all around 3am on the Monday, with CCTV footage showing two males with their faces obscured and carrying a screw-driver.

They took place in Hurrs Road, Skipton; and Moorview Way, Skipton.

Anyone with any information is asked to call North Yorkshire Police on the 101 number and quote incident number 1224 00 60772, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.