IF your home is burgled there is only a slim chance the crime will be solved, the Oxford Mail has discovered.

Latest figures from Thames Valley Police show less than one in eight domestic burglaries were detected in Oxford last year.

There were 642 burglaries committed in the city up to March, with only 86 solved.

And, according to figures obtained by the Oxford Mail, the detection rate in some neighbourhoods is as low as one in 22.

Bob Timbs, the Oxford City councillor responsible for community safety, vowed to confront officers about detection rates next week.

In his ward, Lye Valley, just two of 29 burglaries were detected last year, and he said that was not good enough.

He said: “I will need more evidence from them to find out why they have not caught the culprits.

“I have a meeting next week and I will bring this up as a priority.”

The good news for residents is the overall number of break-ins in the city has fallen from 907 three years ago to 642 last year.

But, while Mr Timbs welcomed the overall drop in burglaries, he explained the crime had a “massive emotional impact” on victims.

“Nothing is worse than having your house burgled, it just makes you feel dirty.”

The overall city detection rate for burglaries in 2010/2011 was 13.4 per cent, compared with a detection rate for all crimes of 25 per cent.

In 2008, the burglary detection rate was 20.5 per cent.

Det Insp Paul Miller said police had worked hard to drive the number of burglaries down over the past three years. He said: “This has resulted in the largest reduction in the number of burglaries in the city’s history.

“We are succeeding in catching serial burglars and bringing them to justice, but it is not always possible to attribute to them all of their outstanding offences.

“The decline in the number of detections is something we are acutely aware of, and we will look to take measures to see this is turned around to match our outstanding reduction in the number of offences.”

Alex Flynn, from charity Victim Support, said being burgled could lead to depression, insecurity and a loss of confidence.

“What victims want most is for the offender to be punished and not go on and commit crimes again,” he said.

Countywide, the burglary detection rates were Cherwell 14 per cent; West Oxfordshire 13 per cent; Vale of White Horse 26 per cent; South Oxfordshire 14 per cent In January, Marcus Lockhart and wife Vicki had honeymoon photos and a video stolen from their Bampton home. No-one has been caught. He said: “They are priceless and they are the things we won’t get back.”