LEAD worth more than £25,000 was stripped from the roofs of North Oxford businesses and homes last year.

Officers dealt with 46 reports of lead and copper thefts in the suburbs of Summertown, Wolvercote and Cutteslowe, with five recorded in the past four weeks.

But they believe the real figure is far higher as many do not notice their property has been hit or do not report thefts.

Police said homes in Summertown were the main target.

Firms hit in the area include Taylor’s Deli, Summer Fields School in Mayfield Road, BBC Radio Oxford in Banbury Road and Northern House School in South Parade.

Martin Copson, owner of the Banbury Road deli, said: “We don’t really know when it was taken, it was about six weeks ago.

“It was about £200 of lead.

“It’s not a huge inconvenience but insurance claims are always extra work and take time and we had water coming through the roof in the shop.”

Neighbourhood sergeant Lis Knight said: “They seem to target residential premises.

“We have quite a lot of big houses in North Oxford and they tend to look at corner properties because they tend to have double frontages or they access residents’ properties that have obvious lead and copper on their roofs.

“We’ve also had a lot of places targeted at the back of Summertown shops where it’s difficult to see what’s going on and lots of different schools and churches.

“We’ve had 46 incidents reported of metal theft but I am in no doubt that there are lots more incidents than that.”

Theft figures for previous years were not available at the time of going to press.

She said: “We have certainly noticed an increase in the last 12 months, just because the price of metal has gone up so significantly.”

The price of lead is at a record two year high of about £2,500 per tonne.

Sgt Knight said officers had patrolled the area to warn property owners who they thought were at risk.

She said of the thieves: “There is no particular ‘modus operandi’ they use.

“They get it any way they can. We have known people who work on their own with a bike or a bag.”

Lead thefts have become a countywide and nationwide problem.

Thieves targeted All Saints Church, Didcot, five times in over a fortnight in December, stripping £6,000 worth lead from the vestry roof.

St Mary’s Church in Witney was left with a £15,000 bill after thieves took lead from its roof over Christmas.

Contact the police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk