SOUTHAMPTON MP and government crime minister John Denham has backed Hampshire police to beat the burglars plaguing the city.

City residents' associations had called on Mr Denham to hold urgent talks with Hampshire Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan after the Daily Echo revealed there had been 57 house burglaries in just two weeks.

However, the Southampton Itchen MP said he would not interfere.

"The day-to-day job of setting police priorities is the job of the police and I'm sure neither police nor the public want me to interfere with that," he said.

"I am confident Hampshire police will respond.

"They have a good record on burglary and I am confident we will get on top of the problem."

Earlier he had described himself as "deeply shocked" at the soaring burglary rate, which represents a fifty per cent rise - an average of four a day.

But, speaking at a conference on distraction/deception crime, he told delegates the county was a safe place to live and that elderly people here were among the safest in the country. He told the conference, held at Hampshire police's Netley Support headquarters, that deception crime was "pernicious and deeply unpleasant" and made a big impact on the fear of crime.

"From the statistics, it's not a massive number - just 20,000 nationally.

"But it has a particularly corrosive impact on the victims, who often live on their own and the impact on people who hear about it is equally damaging," he said.

He was followed on the lectern by Melody Manning, of Eastleigh and Winchester Victim Support, who said her organisation dealt with between one and four victims a month and thought many more went unreported.

The average age of victims was 81, with 74 per cent living alone. Ms Manning said victims were often left embarrassed at being taken in and deeply anxious by the attacks, exhibiting classic signs of stress.

Delegates also enjoyed a play by pupils from Testwood School, Totton, called Driven to Distraction, exploring some of the issues involved in doorstep deception.