Burglars took advantage of last weekend's heatwave to break into nine different houses around Borehamwood where people had left their doors and windows open.

Police are warning householders to be more careful, and claim many of the burglaries could have been avoided if people had taken simple steps to secure their homes.

Inspector Dave Rankin said it was unusual to have so many burglaries in one weekend: "In the summer people tend to leave doors and windows open, which attracts burglars and opportunistic criminals.

"They tend to take whatever they can carry, handbags and cash, and they tend to be things that cannot be traced."

Insp Rankin said the best way to protect the home was to ensure windows were never left open and unattended, even when people were still at home.

Three of the burglaries took place in Stanborough Avenue. The first was at 7.30pm on Saturday, when thieves took two wallets that had been left in an unlocked open porch.

At 3pm on Sunday two more Stanborough Avenue homes were raided. A thief climbed into one house through an open upstairs window and was told to leave by the homeowner, and in the second incident a thief got into a house through a kitchen window and stole a handbag.

Thieves broke into another house in Glenhaven Avenue through the back garden and stole a mobile phone on Thursday evening, and at 6pm on Thursday a Whitehouse Avenue householder was stunned when a thief got in through an unlocked bedroom window, stole a digital camera and fled the scene.

Cash and a mobile phone were stolen from a house in Barton Way on Friday morning, after a thief entered through an unlocked window, and similar items were stolen from a house in Caishowe Road after thieves got in through another unlocked window at 1.30am on Sunday.

Similar burglaries were carried out in Shenley Road and Gateshead Road.

Councillor Morris Bright, chairman of Hertsmere Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership Group, said people should keep an eye on their neighbours' properties during the summer holidays, in the same way they would look out for elderly people in the winter.

August 21, 2002 14:30