Professional gangs have been targeting Oxfordshire swimming pools - and security cameras may now have to be installed to deter the thieves, writes Karen Rosine.

The news follows the latest theft in which Sonja Fuzzey had her purse and car keys stolen from a locker at Temple Cowley Pool, Cowley, Oxford.

Her car was subsequently stolen from the car park of the Oxford City Council-run venue.

Mark Bowler, the council's city leisure manager, said there had been four thefts from lockers at the pool since it was refurbished a year ago. There was also a theft from a locker at Ferry Pool just before Christmas.

Mr Bowler said: "What happens is gangs pass through the area and come through and target the centre.

"We are looking at the prospect now of putting CCTV cameras in the entranceway to the main pools."

The council's head of leisure services Jon Bolton added: "We are occasionally targeted by professional thieves. We provide lockers but you cannot get around a professional thief." In the latest incident Mrs Fuzzey, who runs the Carpenters Arms at West Way, Botley, took her two children Jack, seven, and Jessica, five, to the pool.

She put their bags into a locker costing £1, which is refundable. But the trio returned to find the lock broken off, and the bag missing.

The bag was then found but the purse and car keys were missing.

The family's Renault Espace, bought just six weeks before, was missing from the car park. She said: "We go there every week. I am gutted. I spoke to the manager and he was very helpful and said they had had a spate before but there was not a lot they could do.

"It does sound like a professional, as if it was stolen to order."

Husband Graham added: "Some security they have. You pay £1 for it and you expect it to be safe. We are very distressed." Mr Bolton said there were notices around, warning people belongings are left in lockers at their own risk.

The couple said the incident had been reported to Oxford police.

Story date: Saturday 17 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.