I was burgled in Wood Vale in January and a neighbour was done a couple of months later. I've got a funny feeling that someone else in the road was burgled recently too since I passed the police forensics bods the other night.

I was told that there was a spate of burglaries at the time, targeting multiple-occupancy dwellings where they could ring bells to find out if people were in and if no-one answered, break into the communal hallway since they don't always have the best of locks and take their time breaking into each property. Never heard anything back from the police after I'd given them the details of the stolen items a few days later.

We've got an extra lock on the communal door that they can't just jimmy to get access although they could still break through the door. And my insurance company insisted on an alarm - and double mortice locks.

You could take a look on the interactive Met police map to see if there's an upward trend. I suspect there are often burglaries but we only notice them when someone we know is affected.

I hope you didn't lose too much of sentimental value and that your insurance company pays out correctly and promptly.