CASH to help protect about 9,000 North-East homes from burglars is due to be announced by Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien today.

About £200,000 funding will be given to three projects as part of national push to tackle such crimes.

There have been 24 lots of funding, totalling £1.5m, given to areas covering 55,517 homes in the region which have suffered more than 150 per cent of the national average of burglaries a year.

The latest cash goes to areas in Stockton, Darlington and Gateshead.

A range of inner-city housing immediately to the west of Stockton town centre receives £101,400 to help 3,388 homes.

Levels of unemployment and deprivation are high, and a drug problem contributes to the high rate of burglary, said the Home Office statement.

An area on the outskirts of Darlington accounted for 17.4 per cent of burglaries in the borough. To cover security improvements work for 4,720 homes, £78,800 is being awarded.

In Gateshead, 841 homes in the Bleach Green area receive £24,600 after suffering 246 burglaries in a three-year period.