As many as one in seven homes in Hyde Park and Woodhouse are left unlocked.

Officers from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team inspected over 300 properties in the student area, in an effort to highlight the dangers of break-ins and burglaries.

Police said there is a “major concern” about unlocked doors and windows in the neighbourhood.

Inspector Ian O’Brien, who lead the survey, warned that “half of all  burglaries are down to people failing to lock their doors and windows.”

“Student houses are prime targets for sneak-in burglars who know they are likely to find multiple laptops, MP3 players and other valuable items. If they can get in quickly and quietly through an unlocked door or window then they will. ”

Burglaries in the Hyde Park area have almost halved since last April, with 250 fewer cases being reported this year, although O’Brien admitted that more could be done to “drive down the number of offences even further”.

“We will be continuing to mount checks on homes in the area and we hope to find fewer and fewer of them being left in secure.”

Max Bruges