NORTH Yorkshire Police’s rural taskforce says poachers from outside the county are using hare and deer coursing to single out rural homes for burglary.

Officer have identified between 30 and 40 incidents in the past two weeks across the county.

Inspector Jonathan Grainge says there has been an increase in Hambleton, Ryedale, Malton and the York and Selby area.

He said: “We think they’re coming from County Durham and won’t stop at Northallerton as it’s closest to them, they will go somewhere like the Selby area. Or people from the Manchester area will go up towards Ryedale.

“We're trying to urge people to call it in to the best of their ability whenever it's happening. We want people to know they will get a response from us, either from my team or from the safer neighbourhood teams.

“We'll try and deal with the offenders if it's happening, but even if not, we will still follow up that call and get as much information as we can."

He said officers can pass information to the force’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition team, who can track movements of travelling criminals. Police have found that those who appear to be poaching often seem to be committing other offences such as burglary as well.

He urged people to get as many details as possible without putting themselves in danger, including the number of people involved, dogs they were using and vehicle details.

Any suspicious activity should be reported to North Yorkshire Police on 101, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.