MULTI millionaire financier Hugh Osmond has hit out at police after his Oxfordshire home was raided twice by burglars.

Punch Taverns founder Mr Osmond – who currently holds 51st place on The Sunday Times Rich List and is estimated to be worth £232m – decided to make a stand on rural crime after a spate of burglaries on friends and neighbours in the south Oxfordshire area.

He believes delays in the investigation into the first burglary could have allowed a gang to strike at his home again, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, before targeting others.

Despite handing over CCTV footage of three men as expensive gardening equipment was stolen on August 28, Thames Valley Police did not issue a public appeal until October 11. The same day his Moulsford home was burgled for a second time.

Mr Osmond told the Oxford Mail: “It is obviously high quality footage, colour footage like high definition TV.

“The police have good pictures of these guys and you would have thought it’s not the most difficult thing in the world to find them.

“If they advertised these pictures, someone has got to know who these people are.”

Nearby farmer John Beacroft was targeted a week before burglars ploughed down a gate post and drove to Mr Osmond’s home in a Subaru, taking strimmers, leaf blowers and a quad bike.

Mr Beacroft said: “We’ve had two attempted burglaries here in the last four months and four months ago they did break in to one barn and take some garden stuff, but the last time they came they were foiled. The first one was a week before Mr Osmond’s place was burgled.”

Mr Beacroft also handed CCTV footage to the police.

“There was a stocky guy, two younger men and a girl,” he said. “I don’t know whether it’s a family. When they came here they were driving a Subaru Legacy.”

In the second burglary, crooks smashed and slashed a 4x4 before taking industrial equipment and work clothes.

Police are also investigating a burglary at Hadden Hill golf club in Didcot, where between 2.30pm on September 23 and 6.05am September 25, burglars stole hedge trimmers, chainsaws and jerry cans.

Club manager Michael Morley said: “We have reinforced security and added extra CCTV cameras now.”

Speaking about the raids at Mr Osmond’s property, a police spokesman said: “Officers have liaised closely with the victim in this case since the break-in on their property on August 28. There was an initial delay in obtaining the CCTV images, but once copies were obtained, these were distributed both internally and to neighbouring police forces.

“Once this line of enquiry proved unsuccessful, the decision was taken that the images should be circulated to the general public via the media.

“During the investigation, information was passed to the police by an employee of the victim that a man who matched the offender on the CCTV images had been seen in the Wallingford area.

“Officers went to the area where the man had been seen with the CCTV images, but were unable to locate him.”

Anyone with information can call police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.