Residents returned home from Christmas breaks to find their houses had been targeted in a spate of burglaries in Sidmouth and Newton Poppleford.

Crooks took jewellery and ignored pricey electrical equipment like televisions, mobile phones and tablets.

Five properties, three of them backing onto the Byes, were broken into while their owners were away between December 22 and 28.

Around £1,400 of items were taken from a Byeside Road home on December 23 or 24.

Properties in Ashley Crescent, Sidmouth, and Lower Farthings, Newton Poppleford, were also hit.

Dwellings in Malden Road and Sid Park Road were broken into in the same way between December 24 and 28.

“In each case, the perpetrators seem to have assessed the dwellings in advance, before gaining access from rear windows,” said Sergeant Andy Squires.

He has asked residents to be vigilant if they see people acting suspiciously and contact police as soon as possible so they can intervene.

“People have gone away and come back to find that over Christmas their properties have been broken into,” said Sgt Squires.

“Small items of jewellery were taken but TVs, iPads and iPhones were all left.”

He added that perpertrators would most likely have been on foot. Detectives from Honiton CID are investigating the series of burglaries.

Anyone with information has been urged to contact police on 101, crime references KS/13/710 for Byeside Road, KS/13/711 for Ashley Crescent, KS/13/713 for Lower Farthings, KS/13/718 for Malden Road and KS/13/726 for Sid Park Road.