RESIDENTS are being warned to lock their doors, even when in the garden after a thief snatched an iPad from a Hampshire home.

The home-owner was in his back garden using a loud petrol-driven garden strimmer when the thief struck, getting inside through an unlocked back door.

When the victim went back inside his home in North Common, Sherfield English, he discovered his Apple iPad Air, valued at £500, was missing from the work surface by the back door.

It comes after a spate of thefts in the Shirley area where thieves have managed to steal various items by getting in through unlocked doors and windows, or simply reaching in through open windows where valuable have been left nearby.

Anyone with information about the theft, which happened between 9am and 9.30am on July 24, should contact Eastleigh police station on 101.