Police have blamed a near doubling of burglaries in an area of Oxford on a "small group of indiv iduals".

In south east Oxford, which includes the Rose Hill, Littlemore and Iffley areas, the number of reported burglaries went from 71 in the period April to June 2005 to 137 in the same period this year - a rise of 93 per cent.

Police have said the reason for the leap, especially in Rose Hill, which suffered 96 break-ins, was down to a persistent burglar who was now behind bars.

Shosic Townsend, 30, of Annesley Road, Rose Hill, was jailed for 15 months for burglary at Oxford Crown Court earlier this month.

Insp Phil Standish, who is in charge of policing in the area, said: "The rise in domestic burglary figures was caused by a specific issue in the Rose Hill, Iffley and Littlemore area.

"It was hit by a series of burglaries committed by a small group of individuals over a period of around six months.

"We directly targeted them and using local intelligence identified them. One of them has since been imprisoned.

"Initial indications are that there has since been a significant reduction in burglaries in the area.

"We are optimistic this targeting of prolific criminals will mean a noticeable drop in the next crime figures.

"We would like to highlight that over the same period the Greater Leys area saw a reduction in burglaries of 30 per cent."

Burglary in the south east area of the city rose by 93 per cent compared to 2005.

The crime statistics also showed incidents of interfering with a vehicle, common assault, assault on a police officer, grievous bodily harm with intent, theft from a person and arson.

Theft of cars and cycles, theft from cars, personal robbery, actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and criminal damage dropped.

Overall, crime rose by five per cent rise compared to the same period last year.