HOUSEHOLDERS in Benarty have been warned to be on their guard against sneak thieves after a spate of incidents in Ballingry and Lochore.

The warning came at Wednesday's meeting of Central Fife Crime Prevention Panel when member Tom Kinnaird reported that there had been several incidents over the past couple of weeks where people had left doors unlocked and then found people in their homes.

Tom told the meeting: "There has been a series of incidents with sneak thieves trying doors in parts of Benarty and finding some unlocked have then gone into homes with a view to steal money.

"It seems to be happening two to thee times a week and people are needing advice on how to defend their property from these sort of incidents."

Panel chairman, Dave Roy said: "Ultimately CCTV cameras are a real deterrent to the sort of people who carry out these raids but people might have a lot of money to invest in these but the small IP cameras that we have can provide a security measure that can catch thee sort of people.

"These only cost £30 but can catch these sort of people."

PC Gary Chrystal said that with the dark nights just around the corner these sneak thief type raids can happen more and more prevalent.

He added: "People must guard against these sorts of raiders by ensuring their doors are locked.

"These sort of people merely want to sneak in and find something of value and then disappear literally within seconds.

"They will try doors and just disappear if they find them locked, but eventually they could come across one unlocked and see what they can find.

"So if you keep your doors locked it will ensure these people cannot get any benefit from their activities."

The maxim of 'lock your doors and windows' does not just appeal to Benarty but the whole Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area, with the clocks set to go back within a matter of four weeks and the hours of darkness to run to three quarters of the day.