Garages targeted in thefts spree

POLICE have appealed for help investigating a spate of burglaries from garages in Swinton.

Lock-ups in St John’s Road were targeted during Monday morning or early afternoon by thieves who destroyed padlocks to gain entry. A set of golf clubs was taken from one of the buildings.

Reports to Rotherham Borough Council by local residents suggest a number of other break-ins on Fitzwilliam Road and elsewhere during the same period.

Swinton councillor Ken Wyatt said: “I started taking messages on Monday afternoon. I got one which said that on St John’s Road a couple of garages had been broken into.

“Later on I got one about Fitzwilliam Road, where they’d used an angle grinder to get in. Then I heard about another five incidents on a third site – it’s very worrying.”

A spokeswoman for the council’s housing department said that they were looking into the incidents.

Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen two men in a white transit van near the St John’s Road garages on the day of the break-ins. Anyone who witnessed these burglaries, or knows who carried them out, is asked to call them on 0114 220 2020 quoting reference number 631.