Lock up your laptops

Two unlucky students had laptops stolen from their rooms as burglars took advantage of slack student security during Freshers’ Week.

The first break-in occured at Pembroke, with the burglar gaining access to a student’s room in the new quad through an unlocked window on Monday 8 October.

The following evening, a John’s fresher had their laptop stolen from their room in the Beehive building.

The Tab understands the thief entered the student accommodation through the window of the adjoining room where a scout found muddy footprints the next morning.

Craig Evry of Thames Valley Police said: “Between 7.25pm and 8.50pm on 9 October, offenders entered accommodation within St John’s College, Oxford, and stole a laptop.

“It appears a set of keys were lost prior to this incident and may have been used by the offender to gain entry, as there is no sign of a forced entry. Enquiries are continuing.”

Scene of the crime… the Beehive

CCTV footage has been passed on to the police and the Senior Dean, Dr William Whyte, circulated a warning which reminded students to lock their windows and doors whenever they left their rooms, even for short periods of time.

Tony Coote, the Lodge Manager at John’s, said:

“The beginning of the academic year is always a difficult time for security because of the number of new faces around. On top of that, the college also hosts external events which make it difficult for the porters to identify those who visit with bad intentions.

“Since the break in, we have rejected a number of suspicious-looking people from the college, but we do not know if they are related to the original crime.

“In order to combat this kind of incident, the Oxford University Security Service run an operation to check security at the start of the academic year, with colleges inviting plain clothes officers in to check doors that are open. If they find one, they leave calling cards to raise awareness.

“Such a breach is unusual, but the police have informed us that there have been similar events at other colleges in recent weeks.”

Pembroke head porter Steve Capper said: “We know it’s hard for students to remember to lock their windows and to be aware of who is following them through electric doors, for example, but it would help.

“I would mainly like to encourage students to back up their files on a hard drive, because when something like this happens, they can lose a whole career’s worth of work”