A RURAL community in Thurrock is suffering under a fear of crime after a spate of incidents which have prompted members of its local forum to urge residents to remain vigilant.

In the latest incident in Horndon on the Hill on Wednesday police were called at around 7.40pm to reports of a burglary in Hillcrest Road.

The garage door of a house had been forced open and a grey and blue Cannondale road bike had been removed.

News of the robbery quickly filtered around the village - which has seen a number of significant acts of criminality in recent times.

Most notably at the start of this year a gang of young men were jailed for their part in an attack at a house in Saffron Gardens in the village when the people inside - including a seven-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl - to an ordeal described as "torture".

Since that raid there have been other incidents involving violence - though they do remain rare.

However, residents have been concerned about a number of burglaries - prompting resident Annette Carmody to post on Horndon on the Hill Society and Community Forum's Facebook page describing the village a 'nightmare on the hill'.

The forum has echoed the police's plea for anyone with information about the latest raid (and others) to contact them

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Anyone with information is asked to call Grays CID on 101 quoting crime reference 42/188487/19 in regard to the Hillcrest Road break-in or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.