Crime in Worthing this week

IT is believed a car was deliberately set on fire in the middle of the night on Sunday.

Firefighters were called to the blaze in a grey Ford Focus Zetec in Chesswood Road, Worthing, at 4.30am.

Police are appealing for witnesses.

A LAPTOP computer was stolen when thieves broke into a house in Upper Brighton Road, Worthing.

The burglary happened between 10.15am and 3pm on Thursday last week, when it is thought the thieves climbed in through an upstairs window.

A CON man posing as a water board official distracted an elderly lady while two of his friends stole money from her home.

The pensioner had just returned home from hospital after receiving treatment for a fall the day before when a man called at her home in Greystone Avenue, Worthing, at noon on Monday.

He asked her to boil some water so he could check the sediment levels and kept her talking in the kitchen while two other men entered the house and stole 120.

The man who rang the doorbell is described as being around 19-years-old, 5ft 7ins tall, of slim build, with dark hair and ginger stubble, a southern accent and wearing dark trousers and a dark grey woollen jacket.

Sussex police have also received two reports of similar distraction burglaries on the same day in Brighton and Chichester, and are appealing for anyone else who has been affected to call them on 0845 6070999.

A TEENAGER has been arrested in connection with the spraying of graffiti on the outside of four Worthing shops.

The boy was arrested after a police patrol car spotted him taking photographs of the graffiti tags at Bath Scene, GJ Shoes, Eniola and Fine Foods in The Broadway.

When he was questioned on Monday afternoon, he admitted spraying the graffiti on the shops over the weekend.

He has been bailed while police continue their enquiries.

CCTV cameras at Worthing Museum were smashed when it was broken into in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The alarm went off at the museum in Chapel Road, Worthing, at 3.50am, but when police arrived it was empty and nothing had been taken.

A MAN was stabbed in the arm after an argument he was having with another man got out of control.

The 25-year-old was taken to hospital with a puncture wound following the attack in Beaumont Road, Worthing, shortly after 7pm on Sunday.

The victim was stabbed with a kitchen knife by a 21-year-old man, with whom he had been having a row about cigarettes.

The knifeman was arrested shortly afterwards at a nearby house and has now been bailed while police continue their investigations.

HEARTLESS thieves stole an elderly lady's purse containing hundreds of pounds.

The woman had just withdrawn the cash in order to buy herself some treats but shortly afterwards noticed the purse was missing from her handbag.

It happened on Sunday afternoon in Montague Street, Worthing, somewhere between Woolworths and BHS.

TWO young boys posing as charity collectors are being sought by police.

The pair called at several homes in Clyde Road, Worthing, between 8.30pm and 9pm on Thursday last week claiming to be collecting money for St Barnabas hospice.

But several residents got suspicious and alerted the hospice who called the police the following day.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to contact them. St Barnabas said it does not ever do door to door collections and urged people not to give to these bogus callers.

BURGLARS stole a large television along with other items when they broke into a Worthing home.

The property, in Hillbarn Lane, was targeted sometime between 9am and 5pm on Wednesday, September 26.

A MAN has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a digger from Washington.

Police were called to The Quarry in The Hollow, at 4.30am last Thursday, after a suspicious neighbour saw the digger being put on a lorry and being driven away towards Storrington.

Officers then spotted the lorry, which had sparks flying from the back as it drove, on the A283 and arrested the driver on suspicion of theft.