A WORRYING crime trend has developed in recent days of high-end car owners being confronted by threatening thieves.

Three offences – which I believe are linked – have happened in the Batley Carr area in the last week.

They are also thought to be connected to an incident in Bradford.

The first incident happened on the night of February 8, at Northfield Road in Westborough, when a home owner came face to face with a burglar who got in through an unlocked door.

The burglar told the man: “Just give me the BMW key and I’ll be out of here.”

His would-be victim refused and the man ran off. He was white, in his mid to late 20s, 6ft tall and stocky.

Two days later, at about 12.40pm, at Top Of Carr, Batley Carr, a man was pushed to the ground and had his Audi A4 stolen.

The car was seen in the Shipley area later that day, but has not been seen since.

The robber was described as white, about 6ft tall and aged 25 to 30. He had light brown, short hair.

A further similar incident happened at about 8.20am the following day at Carlton Road.

The thief got in through an unlocked door, before demanding “Where are the keys for the Audi?”.

He stole a handbag containing the car keys and drove off.

A similar description was given, but the burglar was also described as having brown scruffy hair, a black and red zip-up coat, black trousers and black shoes.

That same day, a burglar broke into a house in Bradford and searched for the keys to a Range Rover.

However, the unusual and disturbing aspect of this offence was that, having been unable to find the keys, the man woke the home owner in bed and demanded the keys.

I have no doubt whatsoever that this offence is linked to the three similar crimes reported in Kirklees.

These offences really are very worrying and I am particularly concerned that the suspect has no fear about entering someone’s home and waking them up to enquire where their car keys are kept.

This is very unusual and extremely distressing for victims.

It is so important that people activate their house alarm before going to bed and it’s an absolute imperative that people lock all exterior doors when they are at home, whether this is during the day or on a night.

I appreciate that not everyone can afford a house alarm security system but if anyone is contemplating having one installed, my personal advice is do it as soon as possible.

Offenders do not generally target homes with burglar alarms and on the rare occasion this might occur they certainly don’t hang around to search for property. We really do need to find the offender responsible for these crimes.

Anyone who has any information should call Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.