UNDERCOVER police have been deployed to catch thieves in North Oxford after more than 40 garages were broken into in less than a week.

Free-standing garages – separate to houses – have been targeted in the area in a spate of thefts and police have called on the public to be vigilant to help them catch the offenders.

Householders in North Oxford said they feared the thieves, believed to be a group of three of four operating on foot, would return and try again.

Twenty garages were hit in Butler Close last week and another 12 were broken into further up Woodstock Road.

The spate continued last week with a further 10 garages being burgled in roads off the Woodstock Road.

Christopher Scott, whose Oakthorpe Road garage was targeted, said: "My biggest fear is that they will come back and that they were just testing to see which garages could be broken into.

"It seems as though they are just going around yanking at garage doors – fortunately mine held firm.

"I didn't hear it but my neighbour woke up and saw two people riding away on pushbikes.

The teacher, in his 60s, added: "I reported it to the police and then noticed that a lot more garages had been hit in the area.

"They need to catch them soon but in the meantime people should make sure their garages are secure."

The North Oxford police neighbourhood office in Banbury Road closed in December 2015 sparking fears fewer officers would be seen on the beat.

Inspector Martyn Williams said extra police officers – both in uniform and plain-clothed – had been deployed last week to deal with the "large spike" in burglaries.

He said: "There has certainly been a large number of burglaries reported in the past few weeks.

"We are putting extra police and some plain-clothed officers in the area but we also want people to be vigilant in reporting to us and in securing their garages."

The neighbourhood policing inspector said his team had a few possible suspects and assured the public they would catch the offenders.

He said: "We are probably looking at a group of three or four people operating in the early hours.

"They don't seem to have a vehicle and arrive on foot at garages. When they break into them they are mostly stealing bikes.

"These spikes in crime occur occasionally and we will get them."

A number of padlocks on the garages were torn off leaving many of them unprotected.

A Butler Close resident, who wished to remain anonymous and had their garage broken into, said: "It is worrying and some people are concerned as it is now up to us to replace our padlocks."