Crawley residents are being warned about distraction burglaries.

It is after a man called on a home in Wakehurst Drive on Wednesday afternoon claiming he was there to check the water pressure.

After he left the owner discovered cash, jewellery and a credit card had been stolen from a bedroom.

Police are urging people to ask for and check ID before letting anyone in their home.

• Don’t let anyone into your home that you don’t know. Always ask for identification – official visitors won’t mind being asked for ID.

• Fit a door chain, if you have a solid front door, fit a wide angle door viewer.

• If you were not expecting anyone, explain that you need to check they are legitimate and ask them to wait outside for a few minutes. Take a note of their name and the company they claim to be working for and then close and lock the door.

• Look up the phone number for the company in a telephone directory or on the internet and check they have an employee of that name and that they are visiting you on legitimate business. Never just take someone’s word for it and don’t use any phone number they give you to check their identity – you don’t know if it’s a genuine number.

• If someone is asking for a favour, such as to use your toilet, borrow a pen or retrieve a ball, don’t let them in. Instead direct them to a shop, office or public place. It’s only natural to want to help someone, but sadly that’s one of the techniques often used by distraction burglars.

• If you have any concerns about someone who has called at your door, call police immediately. If you have a chance try to note what they look like and any vehicle they have with them, so police can investigate.

A 93-year-old Banstead man’s lost £3,200 in a scam.

He was called by someone in November who claimed the elderly man had been the victim of fraud and a courier would have to come and pick up his bank cards.

After also getting his pin number the card was then used in a shop and at an ATM in Croydon.

Police would like to speak to the man below:

A large cannabis farm has been uncovered in Oxted.

Officers raided the property last Thursday and found around 50 plants under heat lamps surrounded by insulating material.  It was also discovered the electric meter had been by-passed.

Police say it is part of a larger investigation.

Southern has been voted as the worst train service in the UK for the third year in a row.

The consumer group Which found only 28% of those asked were satisfied with the rail operator.

It scored badly on value for money, reliability and punctuality, with 37% saying the service had got worse in the last year.

For nearly two years now the company owned by Govia Thameslink has been embroiled in a dispute with the RMT over driver-only trains.  Southern says the Which report fails to take this complex situation into account.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42707560

A man has been sentenced to 2 years and 9 months in prison for drug offences in Reigate.

24-year-old Hadji Sesay from London was caught with heroin and crack cocaine when officers stopped his car in Vevers Road in Woodhatch in November.

It followed an investigation by Surrey Police’s Operation Viking team, which Detective Chief Inspector Mark Preston says is “proving hugely successful in disrupting drug networks” and says “will continue to make life as uncomfortable as possible for drug dealers.