THIEVES tried to burgle three houses within two hours in Bacup, but left empty-handed.

A glass panel was removed from the back door of a house in Ramsay Avenue setting off the alarm.

Less than an hour later, a thief removed a ground-floor window at a house in Ronaldsway Close, but fled across fields after he was disturbed.

And shortly afterwards, a man forced the kitchen window of a semi-detached house in Gladstone Street.

The owner described the intruder as white, in his 20s, about 5ft 6ins, with a fair moustache. He wore a black woollen hat. The break-ins happened on Sunday morning.

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