Police are warning residents not to leave their keys near the front door after a resident awoke to find a stick poking through her letterbox.

It happened at 4.30am on Friday, when the 51-year-old social worker was awoken by the security light of her home in Queen's Road. She saw a stick with a hook on the end being pushed through her letterbox towards her handbag which was on a table near the door. When the woman switched on her lights, the man ran off. Sergeant Glen Chandler urged people to be aware of letterbox burglaries, which plagued the borough six months ago. 'It's tempting to leave your keys by the door, but if this man had got hold of them, he would have let himself into the house,' he warned. Any information to DS John Porter Griffiths on 020 8246 9743.