麻豆社

This month thousands of students are聽going back to class, as the new term begins at schools, colleges and universities across Wales.

For many undergraduates that means sharing digs with friends -聽but where there are students there are also opportunist thieves.

Think about it - five students in a five-bedroom house. That鈥檚 25 smartphones, 25 laptops, at least one state of the art TV and a games console; not to mention cash, bank cards, passports and car keys.

David Thomas is more security conscious than most students, but a burglar still managed to break into his terraced house while he and four housemates were home for Christmas.

He told X-Ray: 鈥淚 came back and the whole house was basically upside down. I noticed the mini fridge had gone... our TV and Xbox, a Wii and an amp had all been taken.

The burglar was eventually caught, but the experience left David and his housemates shaken and angry. 鈥淲e paid for those things and obviously we are students,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can't afford to buy new TV鈥檚 and all that. Gutting it was, to be honest.

Luckily, David was supported by a special team of police officers who work with universities and colleges in Swansea. The team aims to educate young people before the same thing happens to them.

One of the ways they do this is by going door to door in student areas of the city - and they don鈥檛 wait to be invited in. If the front door is unlocked or open they鈥檒l walk right in, just like a cheeky burglar might do.

X-Ray reporter Rachel joined student liaison officer Sergeant Andy Phillips and his team of officers and student volunteers on patrol one afternoon...

Out of 100 properties they visited, 15 had a door or ground floor window open. In one house Andy and Rachel were able to wander around for several minutes despite Andy shouting his presence as he entered.

In each house Andy left the young occupants a souvenir of his visit 鈥� a leaflet about home security with a menacing boot print on the front cover - because next time it might not be Andy coming through the door; it could be a burglar.

Sergeant Andy鈥檚 tips to beat the burglars:

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Don鈥檛 attach your name or address to your house keys;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If you have a back gate or entrance, make sure it鈥檚 kept shut and secure at all times;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Make sure all doors and windows are locked when you head out;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Avoid keeping spare keys hidden under the front door mat or in other locations outside the property;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Keep valuables safely away and out of sight from windows;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If you鈥檙e going home for the holidays, take all your valuables with you and make sure everything is locked;

路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Protect your valuables with . This property register service is free to use and used daily by police to trace owners of lost and stolen property.

In July, we appealed for the owner of some old photos to come forward after they were found in furniture donated to a Welsh charity.

The appeal featured in our Photography programme on July 21st.

Back then, chief executive Tom Clarke聽told X-Ray: "We have some photos... that look like World War One and that era - about a hundred years ago.聽So we have a gentleman clearly dressed for action - one of the Welsh regiments by his uniform.

"We have the Margam Cottage Hospital, and we also have a twin of pictures - one man dressed as a guardsman, the other dressed as a mayor. We think it鈥檚 the same person and it would good to reunite the photo with an interested party.鈥�

Among the collection were lots of old school photos. Tom said: 鈥淲e have pictures of staff and pupils, hockey going on here - maybe an educational theme emerging - but many people living today will recognise the people in these pictures.鈥�

Two months later and our hunt for the rightful owner of the lost photos is at an end. But we're not going to spill the beans yet!

For the full story you'll need to watch our new series which starts on Monday October 2nd.