POLICE are asking for the public's help to track down thieves who have been stealing stone flags in Hyndburn.

And officers today said a spate of incidents in the area was probably linked with others in Pendle and Burnley.

Officers said there had been 15 separate offences since September. The spate of thefts started in Rishton before moving to Clayton-le-Moors and Great Harwood.

In the latest incident, thieves struck at 11.50am on Monday in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, when a man got out of a small grey or dirty white saloon car at the back of the terraced houses and removed coping stones from the top of a wall.

After loading the stones into the boot of the G-registered car, driven by a woman, he got into the passenger seat and the vehicle drove off.

The man was white with dark hair, wearing a heavy blue jumper with white stripes across the chest. His accomplice was white, in her 20s, with mousy brown or blonde hair.

Accrington Sergeant Phil Houghton said the incidents were probably linked with hundreds of similar incidents in Burnley. "It's only just over the border from Padiham. We are looking into the possibility of it being linked with the Burnley incidents," he said.

Last month bosses at Gawthorpe Hall joined police to launch Smartwater, a scheme which involves flags being coated with a liquid containing forensic codes that glow under ultraviolet light.

Officers said there had been 362 reported stone thefts in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale this year, with many more in the Ribble Valley.

Anyone with any information is asked to call Great Harwood Police on 01254 353334 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.