PICKPOCKETS are showing they don’t just target the elderly.

There have been a couple of crimes in Huddersfield town centre this week that prove the opportunist thieves will steal from anyone.

On Tuesday lunchtime a thief slipped his hand into a 19-year-old woman’s bag and escaped with her purse.

Later that afternoon a pickpocket took a Nokia mobile phone from a 45-year-old man’s jacket pocket as he strolled along King Street.

These crimes, just a couple of hours apart, show that anyone is a potential victim if they let their guard down and leave valuable items within eyesight and range of the thieves.

Always keep your purses at the bottom of shopping bags or in zipped-up inside pockets.

These thieves take a couple of seconds to strike and often escape without even being seen.

A 13-year-old boy had his mobile phone stolen in Huddersfield town centre shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

The youngster was approached by a thief in Byram Court who stole his Sony Ericsson K800i.

The thief is African-Caribbean, aged 15 or 16, 5ft 8ins and slim. He wore a black hooded top.

A thief sneaked into a house through an integral garage that had been left open.

He was disturbed by the victim at the house on Firth Street in Shepley at 2.10pm on Wednesday and ran off empty-handed.

He is white, 5ft 10ins and slim with short dark hair and sharp features.

He wore a brown shirt and dark trousers.

Always keep your garage doors shut and locked – especially if you are out of sight.

THIEVES have been targeting cars parked close to Huddersfield town centre.

Three had windows smashed after they were left at Prospect Street near the Springwood car park and on nearby Bankfield Road at Longroyd Bridge during the early evening on Tuesday.

They took cash from one, a blood glucose testing kit from another and had searched the glove compartment of the third after spotting the telltale signs of a satellite navigation suction cradle stuck to the window.

The system had already been taken out of the car by the victim, but the sign there could be one in there was enough for someone to break in.