Police have issued a warning to residents after a spate of shed and garage break-ins.

Three outbuildings in Oswaldtwistle and Clayton-le-Moors have been targeted over a 24-hour period between Wednesday, March 8, and Thursday, March 9.

Thieves used force to remove a garden shed door on Blossom Avenue in Oswaldtwistle before stealing a ‘valuable’ mountain bike and a quantity of tools.

They then tried to break into a locked garage on Newbury Close in Oswaldtwistle but were foiled by a vehicle parked behind the door.

Officers said offenders also stole a computer games console from a summer house on Charles Street in Clayton-le-Moors after forcing open a uPVC door.

Anthony Ford, police watch liaison officer, the latest incidents come after three shed burglaries in the Dill Hall area of Accrington last week.

He said: “At one of the Oswaldtwistle offences, there is a suggestion that a red-coloured Ford Transit van might have been conducting hostile reconnaissance in the days immediately prior to the offence.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.