Heating oil taken from home twice

Thefts from domestic oil tanks have increased as fuel prices have risen

A homeowner has twice had hundreds of pounds worth of heating oil stolen from outside his house.

Five hundred litres of the oil used in rural homes was taken from Winsor House in Pelynt between 17 and 31 July.

Owner Alan Tucker said he was planning to build a metal cage around the storage tank to deter thieves as he wants it to "stop happening".

He said he wanted the cost of fuel to fall so people could afford to buy their own oil rather than steal it.

It could have been someone with local knowledge Alan Tucker

Mr Tucker, who inherited the property from his aunt, said: "We left the heating on when we went away and it suddenly went off, even though we had just had 600 litres of oil delivered."

He believes the thieves may have parked on the B3359 road outside and put a pipe over the hedge to siphon the oil out of the plastic tank.

"The thought is rather unpleasant, thinking that people may have been following the fuel delivery van to see where it was going.

"Or it could have been someone with local knowledge."

There have been a number of similar cases in Devon and Cornwall, and police believe they could be linked to high fuel prices.

Heating oil, which is used in about 75% of rural homes, has gone up from 33p a litre at the start of 2008 to about 56p a litre.

According to insurer NFU Mutual, its theft is a relatively "new" crime.

It had no claims for stolen heating oil last year, but this year has already had more than 50.