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Fraudulent web operators are flaunting consumer protection laws in order to entice people into obtaining bogus tickets for music or comedy shows. They are taking advantage of the fact that, for debit card purchases or the use of credit cards for transactions below £100, some banks and building societies will guarantee refunds as part of their customer service.

A bright future is predicted for surveillance camera systems according to an expert analyst.

Relatively new or re-furbished toilets have been identified for possible closure because of a local authority’s need to cut its expenditure. A report to Exeter city council identified some of the toilets for closure because they have been vandalised.

The authorities have been taking part in a second crack-down on junk yards allegedly storing or fencing stolen goods, from copper and gold to football posts. “Word travels fast,” said one officer who noticed this ‘bust’ was already having a deterrent effect. It follows a similar day of action on September 27 where scrap yards across the Black Country were targeted.

Detectives are keen to catch a robber wearing a scary mask who struck at a Co-Op store at 0040hrs last Monday. The man was wearing a yellow fluorescent jacket, tracksuit bottoms, rubber gloves and a blue scarf and beanie hat.

People are urged at Halloween to avoid the nightmare of being burgled, as the clocks are about to go back and we get used to darker afternoons and evenings. One of the first things thieves use is the cover of darkness to target buildings that look empty. A police spokesperson said: “Burglary is a distressing crime.

A suspected criminal quartet is in the dock this week as part of a nationwide police clampdown on people breaking and entering into business premises. The men are up in court after the foursome were arrested and charged in connection with an attempted housebreaking from an Edinburgh commercial unit.

Thousands of pounds were stolen after a man was tied up by a gang who struck at a Surrey golf club. The robbers were described as aged between 25 and 30, about 5ft 11in (1.8m) tall and slim. They were all wearing dark clothing and balaclavas. Anyone who saw the stolen silver Volkswagen Bora car that the gang fled in following the offence, or who has any other information, is asked to contact police.

A pair of 21-year-olds who pocketed thousands of pounds from a fake website selling music festival tickets they created themselves have been given suspended jail terms. David Martins and Dale Frost were also ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service and to pay £1,067 in compensation and £1,250 costs at Southampton Crown Court.

The Treasury Chief Secretary has hit back at comments by police force representatives about possible cuts resulting in forces being “devastated”, if they made the necessary spending reductions. Replying to this was Danny Alexander, who said: “Senior people in the police service should know better” than to make very public statements.

A criminal is at large after going missing from an open prison in Monmouthshire on Saturday. A burglar convicted at the end of last year, Lee David Pearson absconded from HMP Prescoed in Wales. Gwent Police have advised the public not to approach him. The latest incident involving a prisoner from Prescoed follows a convicted murderer absconding last month before he was recaptured two days later.

An off-duty teenage special constable who was knocked unconscious during a night time incident has spoken of his ordeal. Simon Rooke intervened to break up a fight in Wolverhampton, and said: “I didn’t show them my badge but I told them to leave him alone. They started to walk off and I turned my back on them to look at the guy on the ground. Somebody then shouted something and I turned around and he punched me in the face.