8:39am Sunday 11th February 2007
By Chris Hooper
WILTSHIRE Police have warned homeowners to be on their guard after a recent increase in the theft of antique stone roof tiles and traditional stoneware.
A number of tiles have been stolen from the roofs of remote farms and outbuildings and heavy stone troughs and staddle stones have been taken from gardens across rural Wiltshire.
Police believe the majority of the stolen items remain in the local area, possibly to be used in building projects, and so builders and reclamation yards are being asked to thoroughly check the source of any stone items they might buy.
However, there are also a number of steps that homeowners can take to protect their property.
They can create a free on-line portfolio of their valuables, which includes storing images, vital statistics, and product details of the stoneware, so police forces can then use the online facility as a method to recover stolen property.
A further protection, which has been used extensively in the Cotswolds and North Wiltshire, is "SmartWater".
This is a revolutionary forensic tagging system which has been designed specifically for stoneware, and the solution can be used to mark roof tiles, flagstones, staddle stones and traditional stone troughs with invisible, DNA-like, forensic fingerprint.
This fingerprint is unique to a single address, the details of which are kept on a secure database, and can be accessed by police in the event of recovered stolen property being identified.
Anyone with information on stone thefts should contact police on 0845 4087000, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111. For information on protective products, see www.mythings.com or www.smartwater.com
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