£21,000 theft sparks action by officers

THIEVES stole more than £21,000 worth of gardening gear from the newly-refurbished Churchill Playing Fields only days before its grand reopening.

Oldham Council had to replace strimmers, mowers and hedge cutters as workers got Saddleworth and Lees’s largest community sports field ready for its unveiling.

But officers are determined such thefts won’t happen again

Equipment has been marked with a new forensic trace product.

A new aerosol, SelectaDNA, sprays tiny particles that authenticate the product and the owner, whose name is in a police-only database.

The main benefit is that police can identify stolen property immediately.