BURGLARIES in Southampton have rocketed by almost 70 per cent, new figures released by Hampshire police have revealed.

More than 400 homes and businesses were targeted in April, May and June this year.

Police have blamed the huge increase on drug addicts stealing to fund their habits, and a new way of recording crime.

There were 402 burglaries committed between April and June 2003 compared with 237 in the same three-month period last year.

Burglaries across Hampshire have also increased by almost one fifth but some areas including the New Forest, Fareham and Gosport have seen a fall.

Force chiefs in the city set up a dedicated burglary unit in February after the increasing numbers of burglaries were recognised as a problem across Hampshire.

That has seen detection rates improve, with 90 burglaries solved in April, May and June compared with 52 during the same period the previous year.

Officers will be keen to see that improvement continue by capturing a serial burglar who has struck at about 20 homes in the Upper Shirley area of the city since the start of August.

Dubbed the Shirley Creeper, the night-time raider strikes while residents are at home asleep and takes property such as wallets, purses, handbags, cash and credit cards.

Burglars are also sure to target the thousands of new students who will descend on the city over the next couple of weeks to begin courses at Southampton University and Southampton Institute.

Southampton police spokesman Sergeant Phil Bateman said: "There is the problem of the cheap availability of drugs in the area and people commit crimes often to fund their habit. That is one of the areas we are looking at.

"We have also changed the way we record crime and that has definitely had an impact on the figures compared with last year.

"An example of that would be students. We have a big student population and burglars know that if they break into a student house they are likely to get three to four times the amount of property they would get from one break-in.

"Whereas before we would record that as one crime, now we are recording it based on how many people were living there."

A spokesman for Hampshire police added: "It is too early to assess how effective the burglary investigation unit has been since it was launched but we have made more than 100 arrests this year.

"We are committed to reducing the number of burglaries by the end of the year."

The number of burglaries also increased in Eastleigh and central Hampshire division, which includes Winchester. Fareham, the New Forest, Gosport and the Isle of Wight were the only areas to buck the trend recording falls in the number of burglaries committed.