Police have put out a warning to people with uPVC plastic front doors, after a spate of four burglaries in two nights.

Across Sunday, June 8 and Monday, June 9 two addresses were burgled in Washington Road, Worcester Park, while another two were burgled in Woodstock Rise, Stonecot.

In both cases the owners were asleep upstairs.

In each instance intruders managed to break in because the door had not been locked with a key.

Pulling the handle up from the inside is not enough to secure the door, because burglars can pull the handle down through the letterbox.

They can also break in by tampering with the lock.

Sutton Police has warned locking the door after lifting the handle up is the only way to make it secure.

Stolen items include laptops, a tablet computer, a handbag and a 36in colour TV.

On these nights two properties were not broken-into because the doors were locked with a key.

The houses were in Washington Road and Lincoln Road in Worcester Park.

Sgt Andrew De’Voreaux, of Worcester Park and Nonsuch Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: “These burglaries could have been prevented if the uPVC doors had been locked with a key.

“These reports represent a highly unusual spike in burglaries in a specific area whilst the overall trend across the borough is for a continued reduction in burglaries.”

Sutton Police are urging anyone who saw something suspicious to call 101, or to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.