Residents say their town centre cul-de-sac has become a burglary blackspot.

They are worried by a string of break-ins, the latest occurring while a couple were watching television. Basil and Jane Fry's bungalow in Church View, Carterton, was hit by burglars who entered and stole jewellery last Wednesday.

Mrs Fry, 60, said yesterday: "I hadn't heard of anything like this happening in the area until recently, they do seem to be targeting bungalows and more elderly people."

The incident was the fourth since the end of August. Terry and Tricia Warner had their home broken into over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Mr Warner, 60, said: "It's three in the space of a few months when we haven't seen a burglary for the last 12 years. They say we're in a low crime area, as far as I'm concerned this is a blackspot. Carterton is Dodge City after dark.

"The place is only 200 yards from the police station, but most of the people here are well into their 60s and at the moment they're afraid even to go out to the Co-op and buy a pint of milk."

Mr Warner said nothing was taken.

A bungalow in Church View belonging to John and Elizabeth Marchant was then burgled on Friday, September 10, followed by another owned by Arthur and Janette May Muschens on Thursday, October 21.

Mrs Marchant, 84, said money was taken while she and her husband were asleep. She said: "We've lived in this area for a long time, and we've never had a burglary of this sort in the more than 50 years we've been married." Burglars stole jewellery worth several thousand pounds from the nearby home of the Muschens, and took money from a wallet in the room where Mr Muschens, 70, was asleep in a chair. He said: "They must have been within a few feet of me. I suppose it happens in this day and age with drugs being a problem, so we're going to have a burglar alarm fitted."

Betty Giles, 78, who runs the local toy shop with her husband Gordon, lives in Church View near the burgled properties.

She said: "It's a very quiet cul-de-sac and we're extremely worried. We're mostly pensioners. I know one or two ladies who live on their own and it's been quite frightening for them."

Thames Valley Police spokesman Victoria Evans warned residents to be on their guard.