CHURCHES and businesses have been warned to be on their guard after another series of metal thefts in Bournemouth town centre.

The police are urging premises to step up security measures after lead was taken from the roofs of the Virgin Media store in Commercial Road, St Stephens Church in Hinton Road, and the Animal and Maplin Electronics shops in Commercial Road.

The thefts appear to have happened overnight, with Virgin hit between 5pm on Sunday January 22 and 9am on Monday 23; the church between 6.30pm on Wednesday 25 and 9am on Thursday 26; and Animal between 6.25pm and 7.40am the same night.

Maplin was targeted between 10pm and 11.10pm on the Wednesday.

PC Stuart Greenwood of Bournemouth police, said: “In addition to these four incidents, a theft occurred at St Michaels Church on Poole Hill at the beginning of January. Overnight between Friday January 6 and Saturday January 7 a large quantity of lead was stolen.

“I am appealing for anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in these areas to contact police. It’s possible that these offences are connected.”

St Stephen’s Church lost £100,000 worth of lead last November, while the following month, lead panels were stripped from St Mary the Virgin Church in Sturminster Marshall.

Metal theft in Dorset has doubled since 2006. Anyone with information can call the police on 101 quoting incident 26:122, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.