WHEN Dale Simpson woke up in the home he shares with his girlfriend and eight-week-old baby in York he felt that something was different, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Then he realised the large baby bag had disappeared.

As he walked through his terraced home in Windsor Street, he saw the bag had been used by a burglar to carry off a haul of possessions including a camera, minidisk player, personal items and cash.

The total loss would leave him with a £1,000 hole in his pocket, but his girlfriend, Natalie Fewster, 22, who had got up in the middle of the night to feed baby Cole, was deeply shocked by what could have happened.

Dale, 21, who works as a chef, said Natalie was still coming to terms with the thought that she could have been confronted in her own home by an intruder who broke in through a faulty door lock.

He said: "It just makes you feel so insecure. We feel violated. It was really upsetting. I have never had anything like this happen before and I don't want it to happen again.

"Now we make sure all the doors are locked properly and we've had bolts put in the front door. I try not to think about it, but I would definitely tell people to secure their home."

A few streets away, in St Clement's Grove, retired decorator George Million, 64, is finding it even harder to forget how a burglar forced open a ground floor window to his flat and stole cash, tobacco and jewellery.

He said: "When you hear that people have been burgled it doesn't affect you, but from now on it will be on my mind all the time.

"I've had the doors reinforced and security lights put in, but every time it goes off I jump out of bed. It's sickening. Every time I go out I'm thinking about my doors and I check that everything is double locked."

PC Dave White, of York Police, said Christmas could prove to be a bumper season for many burglars as they target houses full of presents on dark evenings.

But he said residents could help themselves by securing their homes and using common-sense measures, like always locking doors and windows, to avoid becoming a target.

He said that almost two in five burglaries reported to the police are sneak-in crimes, where the intruder has not used any form of tool to break in, and these should be the simplest crime to cut out.

"People must try to help themselves to secure their homes. Simple measures can cut out crime and prevent a lot of pain and suffering," he said.

Sergeant Mike Stubbs added: "Recent research into burglary involving convicted offenders at a local prison shows the vast majority of burglars don't plan their offences. They'll choose the easy target on the spur of the moment.

"There are still too many easy targets in York. We need householders to work with us and take a few simple precautions. Let's make it a miserable Christmas for the criminals this year."

Updated: 08:59 Monday, November 10, 2003