Man arrested and stolen items recovered following burglaries in Cotswolds village

A man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary and stolen items have been recovered after a report of suspicious behaviour in the early hours of this morning, Sunday 18 July.

Officers responded to a call shortly after 4.15am where two men had been spotted in a front garden of a property in Down Ampney, a village in the Cotswolds.

The pair soon fled in a vehicle when confronted by home owners and officers were quickly deployed to try and locate those involved.

PS Tom Coombs and PC George Howe attended and discovered an abandoned vehicle nearby, which was later found to have been stolen from a local care company.

They searched on foot and soon found two men who were on bicycles who then fled on seeing police.

One man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of burglary and the other man, who was wearing a blue hooded top, managed to cycle away. Enquiries are ongoing to locate him.

A number of stolen items have been recovered, including three bicycles, the car and also a set of golf clubs which are suspected to have been stolen.

Investigating officers are still trying to locate the owner of the golf clubs which were in a Dunlop bag with a black Callaway towel attached, pictured below.

PS Coombs said: "Burglary is a callous crime and can have a devastating impact on the victims involved. 

"I would like to thank the quick-thinking member of the public who quite rightly dialled 999 to report the suspicious behaviour.

"I'm glad we've been able to recover a number of stolen items and on this occasion it was before the rightful owners realised they had been burgled overnight.

"Unfortunately one man managed to evade us but enquiries are ongoing to locate him."

If you are the rightful owner of the golf clubs or have information to help locate the other person suspected of being involved please submit information to police online by completing the following form and quoting incident 96 of 18 July: https://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/cor/tell-us-about-existing-case-report You can also call police on 101.

Anyone who sees suspicious behaviour such as this take place or they believe a crime is in progress is urged to call police on 999.