Jewellery, cash and a Mercedes-Benz were stolen as burglars targeted at least three houses in Hitchin and Letchworth yesterday.

At some point between 10.30am and 5.30pm, someone forced their way into a house in The Chilterns, a private street coming off Wymondley Road, and stole jewellery and keys to the Mercedes – which was also stolen.

The thieves entered the property through a side gate before smashing the glass to a patio door and jemmying the door.

A second burglary took place between 4pm and 4.30pm in Wymondley Road, with someone getting in through an insecure patio door at the back of a house before ransacking it.

Cash, watches and Asian gold were stolen.

Officers are linking the Wymondley Road burglary with another in Letchworth’s Quinn Way, which happened between 3.20pm and 3.50pm yesterday.

In that incident, someone entered a rear garden and broke into the house by smashing a pane in the patio doors.

They searched the property before making off with cash and gold jewellery.

Anyone with information about any of these burglaries should call police on 101, quoting the relevant crime number.

The crime number for the burglary in The Chilterns is G1/17/2905. Quote G1/17/2909 to give information about the burglary in Wymondley Road, and G2/17/2190 to give information about the burglary in Letchworth.