POLICE today warned business owners in Ipswich town centre to be on alert for an agile burglar behind a string of shop break-ins.

POLICE today warned business owners in Ipswich town centre to be on alert for an agile burglar behind a string of shop break-ins.

The warning came as officers appealed for help in their hunt for the thief or thieves who targeted three Ipswich town centre shops in the same night, escaping with cash and goods.

In all three cases, the theft or damage to the shops happened between the time the shops were closed on Saturday and were reopened on Monday morning.

Those thefts were the latest in a spate of crimes which have left business owners counting the cost in the last two months.

Each time the thieves have been in search of cash and goods they can easily sell on and often they have gained entry by climbing over fences to access the rear of the shops.

In one of the latest thefts, the burglars escaped with items valued at £800 when they broke into a hairdressing salon in Butter Market between 4pm on Saturday and 8.30am on Monday.

Among the items taken were six sets of hair straighteners and a 15-inch LG LCD flat-screen television.

In another, a small amount of cash was stolen from a hair salon in the nearby Thoroughfare during a break-in between 5pm on Saturday and 9.20am on Monday.

And in the third, a shop in Thoroughfare was damaged during a failed break-in.

The burglars caused the damage when they tried to break into the main area of the store between 5pm on Saturday and 9am on Monday.

Peter Lickert, a senior crime reduction officer with Suffolk police, said: “There has been a spate of these crimes over two months.

“This person does not object to climbing - they will go to the rear of premises.

“A lot of them have been at hairdressers and they have even been taking staff tips.”

Business owners are urged not to leave money in their shops after closing and to security mark any items that are left in the shops overnight.

Anyone with information about any of the burglaries should call Suffolk police on 01473 613500.

Anyone who sees anything suspicious in the town centre in the early hours of the morning is asked to call police on 999 or 01473 613500.

n Has your business been targeted by thieves? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk