A SAFER neighbourhood team is linking the appearance of illegal doorstep sellers in the area with an increase in theft and burglary offences.

Shipston police have said there have been six burglaries in the district since the beginning of the year.

PC Craig Purcell from Shipston Safer Neighbourhood Team said a house in London Road, in Shipston, had the rear patio door smashed open and the inside of the house ransacked.

"In speaking to neighbours we have found that door-to-door sellers had been working along London Road within the last week. I am concerned that we did not receive a single report of this," he said.

Shipston Police have publicised warnings about the dangers of doorstep pedlars for over 12 months through social media and local presentations but calls to the police are still very limited.

"Recently I have seen discussions on Facebook pages where people are defending ex-offender doorstep sellers as just trying to get on with their lives and rehabilitate themselves. In over ten years of policing I have only encountered one doorstep seller who had the correct documentation and was acting within the law. However, we are more than happy to receive 20 calls and on attendance find that a person is not a criminal and does have the correct paperwork. Our aim is to disrupt and prosecute those acting illegally and giving legitimate pedlars a bad name," he added.

"The simple question to ask yourself is: would you want a person with an extensive criminal history knocking on your door, your parents' door, your grandparents' door, your friends and neighbours' doors?

"Recently we have had a very small number of reports advising us of door-to-door sellers in other areas of Shipston, Ettington and Brailes. In each area only one or two people called us but it is likely that many more doors had been knocked. The reports followed a common pattern whereby the person knocking on the door of an address appears polite and has claimed to be affiliated with some form of ‘back-to-work’ scheme for ex-offenders. These schemes do not exist in this form and any identification produced will be poor quality and fake. The aim of this supposed honesty is to make you believe that they are truly trying to turn their life around.

"If anybody knocks at your door selling goods please check their identification. If they cannot produce a pedlar certificate from their local police force or they produce a document which claims that they are ex-offenders on a ‘back-to-work’ scheme then they are likely to be acting illegally and can be prosecuted."

PC Purcell states it is important not to challenge the doorstep sellers but call the police on 101.