A SPIKE in crime in Oxenhope saw a girl injured by a rock hurled at her, a house burglary, four attempted burglaries, and five vehicle crimes.

The update was delivered at an Oxenhope Parish Council meeting by Worth Valley Ward sergeant Alan Beecroft, who stressed most of these offences seem to have been committed by the same group.

“Six offences happened overnight or early in the morning of May 31 and June 1,” he said. “These included an attempted burglary in Marsh Lane and another attempt at a property in Brookside Fold.

“We’re quite certain these were done by the same three suspects, who were caught on CCTV.”

Sgt Beecroft said two of the other crimes in Oxenhope during the same month-long period happened on the night of May 24, and involved one attempted burglary, then an actual burglary where a car pulled up outside an address and three men emerged to force open a door to the property.

Sgt Beecroft said he had requested a traffic police presence to help detect suspect vehicles involved.

He said: “These tend to be travelling criminals who drive around to make a note of where the nice cars are. Then they’ll return later when they get an order to steal a certain type of vehicle.”

He urged people with garages to use them to keep their vehicles out of sight.

A woman at the meeting outlined how her young daughter was hurt after being struck in the head by a rock thrown by teenagers in the park behind the village primary school. The incident happened on May 30, while the girl was walking a dog. The rock narrowly missed her eye.

Her mum said: “I’d like to think that it’s a one-off, and that nobody else gets hurt.”She said she was concerned earlier cases of stone throwing in Oxenhope had not been reported to police, resulting in the situation escalating until her daughter was hit.

She, along with Sgt Beecroft and Councillor David Ashcroft, emphasised the importance of reporting offences directly to police, and not just mentioning incidents on social media.