IT’S one of the most invasive crimes you could fall victim to.

Returning home to find your house has been burgled and your treasured belongings stolen can be a harrowing ordeal for a victim, whatever their age.

Now, police have launched a summer crackdown to drive burglars out of Southampton, warning them they will be caught if they don’t thanks to a new weapon in their arsenal.

Residents in the city are being offered SmartWater kits to mark their valuables so they can be traced and reunited with their owners should they be stolen.

The invisible liquid, which is forensically unique in every bottle, is marked on belongings and cannot be seen to the naked eye – but it will show up under UV light.

Police officers in the city have now been issued with key fobs so they can use the light to scan items they believe have been stolen, while second hand shops supporting the crackdown have been issued with lamps to check items they buy.

Burglary victim Pete Gallagher is among the first residents in the city to use the innovative technique to protect his belongings, having suffered at the hands of thieves who ransacked his house this month.

Mr Gallagher had returned home to find thugs had taken a pickaxe to his reception area and then trashed every room of the home he shares with his wife and two young sons.

“We went inside and found we were stepping on items like pictures that are so personal to us, but had just been thrown everywhere. These thieves don’t have any values.

“Our lives have not settled down, there is still stuff we have not been able to fix or put right yet. It’s such an invasion of your privacy.”

Funded by the Southampton Safe City Partnership, the kits are being distributed to people at most risk or who live in vulnerable areas.

All they have to do is mark their property and send off the registration form so that their items can be traced back should they be stolen. People handling stolen goods could also find themselves in prison and have their homes and valuables seized as pay back under the Proceeds of crime Act.

Detective Chief Inspector Kath Barnes, head of Southampton CID said: “The message is if you are considering burgling in Southampton don’t because you will be caught. Thieves won’t know whether they will be going in to a property that has been marked and if they do, they will be traced.”

Residents should also take responsibility by locking doors and windows especially in the summer.