RESIDENTS are urged to keep their keys hidden after thieves broke into a house by fishing for them through a cat flap.

The message comes from a police poster campaign to pre-empt the start of a feared spate of burglaries from travelling criminals. PS Claire Holbrook said that a house in Baxenden had £3,000 worth of goods recently stolen by thieves using a bamboo cane to fish the keys out.

Although she said there had not been a dramatic increase, six months earlier a similar event led to the area being targeted, and they were taking precautions to ensure that it did not start again.

The thieves hooked the keys left near the door to enter the home in Southwood Drive, Baxenden.

They then made off with £3,000 worth of goods including a lap-top computer and other electrical items.

Some were later discovered in the back garden after they were dropped as the thieves tried to get over a back wall.