A WOMAN woke up in the middle of the night to find a thief standing in her hallway.

Police are looking at a potential link between a number of incidents over the weekend where cars or car keys were stolen from homes in Colchester.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, had two sets of keys stolen from her home in Bishop Road some time overnight between Friday and Saturday morning.

The homeowner said: “At about 3.15am on Saturday I was woken by the sound of my front door opening so shook my husband awake and jumped out of bed.

“From the top of the stairs I saw a figure in the porch with a phone in their hand with the torch function on.

“I shouted ‘Hello’ and they quickly left. My husband then ran down the stairs and out of the door after them but couldn’t see where they had gone.”

The couple found out two handbags, one with her purse inside, her husband’s wallet and both sets of car keys were gone.

She said: “These were all in the porch. I phoned the police and they sent patrols out to search for the suspect.

“We asked what we should do with our cars on the driveway as the keys were obviously stolen and we were worried they would try to return and take them. The police suggested we should move them which we sorted out straight away.”

One of the handbags was later found in their road.

The woman said: “My sister spotted some other contents left in Paxman Avenue and then right on to Smallwood Drive she found my other handbag.

“My husband found his wallet and in the morning light we discovered my purse on the other side of our road. It is believed the thief was able to jemmy the front door open. The family has since had CCTV installed.

Two similar incidents happened over the weekend. A blue Audi Q7 was stolen from Prince Phillip Road at about 4.18am on Saturday. Then between 2am and 5am on Sunday a dark grey BMW 520i was stolen from Hazell Avenue after someone broke into the property and took the keys.

Call Essex Police on 101.