Torquay burglaries prompt cop warning

Karen Hart
A spate of burglaries and a breakin at Torquay Primary School have prompted a police warning to property owners.
Owners of a holiday home in Regent Street, Jan Juc, returned this week to find thieves had ransacked the house, police said.
Police suspect the thieves broke into the property sometime between August 10 and 19.
“It appears the person or persons responsible forced their way into the property with a screwdriver before ransacking an area upstairs and also downstairs,” a police spokesperson said.
The thieves fled with nothing of value but left about $500 worth of damage to the property.
Police linked the incident to another burglary at a holiday house in Barnett Place, Jan Juc, between August 12 and August 14.
Thieves forced their way into the olderstyle home via a window before fleeing with a haul of DVDs, perfume, a heater and a Sharp DVD player.
“We believe both burglaries are linked and at this stage we urge all holiday home owners to not only be vigilant but to check their homes if they haven’t lived in them for some time, especially during the period when these two burglaries occurred,” the police spokesman said.
The burglaries followed police foiling wouldbe thieves who set off Torquay Primary alarms at the town’s police station.
Torquay primary principal Pam Kinsman said the perpetrators broke into the school around 3am on Monday last week but fled with nothing when police arrived.
Ms Kinsman said the police failed to catch the thieves but a quick response had forced them to flee empty handed.
“The thieves were lining up computers to steal but fortunately police arrived before they could take anything,” she said